The South African Kiwi
thesouthafricankiwi.blogspot.com
No. of Kids: 3, two boys, 1 girl
Current City: Whangarei, Northland
What’s your blog all about?
Opinionated Mom, Feral Housewife.
Why did you start blogging?
I originally started my blog in 2008 when we emigrated to New Zealand as a way to keep our widespread family up-to-date with the antics of my children. I got lazy for a long while and then, inexplicably, a few months ago I realised that I had more to say. I have opinions on everything that, as a chronic people-pleaser, I suppress. This is my outlet for all the comments and views that I don’t say out loud, in public.Also, I’ve realised that there is this idiotic code of secrecy among the mothers of the world. We sugarcoat our lives. One very prominent memory was me asking a trusted older lady, while I was pregnant with The Jord, how painful labour was. At that point I was not able to attend pre-natal classes so I really had no idea. She told me that labour wasn’t really painful… just hard work. I’ve decided to be the voice that says: labour is effing sore, and being a full-time mom often sucks. You’ll always get down-to-earth honesty and the bare-bones truth out of me.
What is your favourite part about blogging?
Practicing my long-neglected Photoshop skills and getting the feedback.
How do you manage juggling family life with blogging?
Blogging is part of my daily routine. There is something not-quite-right about a day without a blogpost. I have a few rules, one of them is that I don’t blog on weekends – that time is for my family! Otherwise, The Jord and I tackle the housework together and we generally stay on top of most of it.
Any advice to new/other bloggers?
Blog every day! Keep a camera handy (even if it’s just a phone camera)Say it like it is, but be tactful enough to keep names out of personal rants. Go easy on the advertising, a bit is fine, but too much makes your blog look untidy and unreadable. Get creative with design – this is a cyber-interpretation of who you are – but within reason, be aware of how long it takes for someone without broadband to load your homepage. Too many huge pictures and links will make the loading slower and often a potential reader will have clicked away before they have read what you have to say. I once did an internet marketing course and I learnt that the average time a person spends on one website while surfing is less than 10 seconds. Make sure that what they are seeing in those first few seconds is going to make them want to stay. And I’ll stop preaching now… ;)
Top 3 favourite posts from your blog?
Does This Make Me Look Fat?
Family beds, attachment parenting and hot little gnomes.
For Husbands/Partners of Stay-At-Home Mums.
Top 3 favourite blogs?
There are so many! And they change as my interests do (which, at the moment, is with lightning speed) but there is one that is my inspiration and that I use as a reference: thepioneerwoman.com Her interests and mine (the ones that remain the same through all seasons of my life…) are very similar!
Others include:
sewmesomethinggood.blogspot.com
one-hip-mom.blogspot.com
www.notmartha.org
confessionsofacookbookqueen.blogspot.com
www.yougrowgirl.com
thecasualgardener.blogspot.com
cheapvegetablegardener.com
I know that’s more than three, but it’s so hard to narrow them down at the moment. I’m nesting with a vengeance and it’s manifesting itself in obsessions with gardening, sewing, baking and beading…
