I’m sure you heard me whine once or twice this past week about All My Children being canceled. The finale was on Friday & I had heard via soap spoiler websites that Agnes Nixon, the creator, was going to give fans the gift of wrapping up all the lose end story lines in the finale. I was stoked.

The show started off ok, they had managed to bring a few of my favorite killed off characters back from the dead over the last few weeks so it was nice watching them but about 40 minutes in to the finale I started to get a twinge of panic because nothing had really happened yet. 50 minutes in & I was really starting to freak out, this is the last episode of a show I’ve been watching since I was in utero & it was starting to look like the finale was going to be an even bigger let-down than LOST. Six minutes later my fear became a reality, the show slugged along the entire episode without answering a single question & then ended suddenly with a gunshot in a room that was filled with every single character.

Seriously?

I started doing some digging & it didn’t take long to find interview after interview of scorned AMC actors speaking out about how unhappy they were with the ending. Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) even went as far as to point out that there were several scenes filmed with Josh Duhamel that were meant for the final episode but would never see the light of day because of the rewritten finale.

Wait, rewrite? What??

More searching & I found my answer. As Agnes had promised, a finale was written giving AMC fans everything which they had hoped. Surprise guests, reignited past loves & most importantly answers. (Who was that secret patient under the suspicious white sheet anyway???) Many of the scenes had even been already filmed when a few business meetings behind closed doors led to a change of events. It appears that when ABC sold the show to Prospect Park, who planned on continuing the series via webisodes, it was contingent on AMC re-writing the finale to be a complete cliffhanger. It’s probably safe to assume that was with the hopes that fans would be so desperate to see what happens next they’d transition into watching the series online. I wonder if Prospect Park or ABC ever considered that viewers might not continue to watch if they were completely & utterly PISSED OFF.

It often seems that big businesses no longer think of their audience or clients as people but rather just another dollar sign in the budget.

Another great example of this is Netflix. The mega movie giant is expected to lose 1,000’s of subscribers, their stock is down significantly and they’ve had to lower their yearly expectations by millions after they raised rates by over 60% AND decided that now you would have to subscribe to two separate plans to watch DVD’s streaming online & receive them in the mail. This company had a huge following of dedicated fans & instead of just being grateful for their success & continuing to give their customers what they wanted they got greedy. They saw profit instead of people. It’s even stoked a new motto, “if it’s not broke, don’t netflix it.”

So where does that leave me? Yes, I can complain to you about being disrespected & treated as just another number & yes, I can vow to never watch “The Chew” which is taking AMC’s place on ABC. (I may or may not have a DIY Mario Batoli voodoo doll tutorial coming up, orange crocs & all) but what would probably make the biggest impact is if I can take a lesson away from it & apply it to my own life. As a blogger I need to remember that my readers are just that, people who are reading my website. Not “uniques”, not a stat, not even a notch on the “follower” scale. It’s an actual person who is willing to give a small amount of their day to read my blog. On top of that, even though big businesses don’t seem to know this, that person is most likely not a complete idiot. People know when they’re being bamboozled. They know when something is a sales pitch & not genuine. Perhaps giant companies like ABC will never have make that connection & that’s a shame. If nothing else, it was a reality check for me.

I’m curious, am I the only one who feels this way or have you been run over by the big guy?

This morning we were going about our usual ritual, yogurt smoothies in the living room, Today show on the tv, undranken cold coffee in my mug. Sophie & Sam were going about their routine of taking out every single toy we had put away the night before. Then poor Sam told me she needed to throw up. Weird, right? Of course I rushed her to the toilet, held back her hair & rubbed her back. But she didn’t puke. Didn’t even gag. When I suggested we go back to the living room she freaked, yelling at me to hold her & that she HAD to throw up. We went through this conversation 3 or 4 more times before I got to thinking about if she didn’t really have to throw up then what was her goal in wanting to stay in the bathroom? Why would you rather be in boring, cold bathroom staring into a toilet then under a princess blanket in front of the TV? Then I realized the difference is this…Sophie monster.

That baby is head over heels in love with her big sister. She follows her everywhere, climbs all over her & eats her toys because obviously whatever her sister has is AWESOME. Sam just needed some gosh darn peace & quiet. Sometimes as adults we certainly need a little time away from each other. Hence the day spa, or solo table at Starbucks. Why didn’t I realize that my 3 year old needed some time away from her other half, her sister.

The first 13 years of my life I was an only child. I hated it. Candyland sucks as a solo game. I just assumed that even if Sophie was a tad on the annoying side at least she was a companion & that had to be better than being alone. I think I forgot to consider the fact that some, actually most, people need a little alone time. Now that I think of it Sam really does enjoy to sit and work a puzzle in the other room or sometimes she’ll even slink off to go play in her room for hours & I think that may just having something to do with the fact that Soph can’t get up the stairs. Why did I think that if she & Sophie were both awake than they should be together? Perhaps I didn’t actually “think” too much about it at all.

So the question is how do you determine when to make siblings “deal” with one another & when to give them their own space? Especially if the two parties wouldn’t necessarily agree on which they’d prefer?

Have you noticed that the type of posts on here have been changing a bit?

This blog used to be 70% crafting, 25% recipes & 5% random blabber. (those are very accurate researched figures. not really.)

Lately though I’ve really enjoyed doing some more thoughtful writing like the milkshake post last week. I also haven’t been able to share the details yet but I’ve been doing some side writing for a website. (it hasn’t ‘officially’ launched yet but when it does have no doubt I’ll be on here begging you to check it out)

Over the last few months I’ve been feeling the desire to take this blog to the next level, in particular, to find a way to turn it into a part-time job. While I love being a stay at home mom I also feel like I really need something outside of my children. I never really had a job that was my ‘passion’ per say but one day it dawned on me that if I’ve been regularly dedicating myself to this blog for over 3 years than maybe this is my passion? I must love it if I’ve been more than willing to do it this long & not make a penny off of it, right?

So I started thinking about what directions I could go…

Advertise- eh, the money is really mediocre until your blog is stupid big & I really don’t want to manage the ads/sponsors. I’ve applied with a few blog publishing companies but when it came time to sign the contract I just couldn’t bring myself to turn my baby over to someone else to pimp it out. For me, it just didn’t feel right.

Write a book- This one is tempting. You build up a group of dedicated readers & then transform your postings into a book, you’ve already got a built in audience so you’re one step ahead of the game. The problem is it’s an enormous amount of work & there’s not really one particular topic that I want to write an entire book about. Not quite the right path either.

Contracted writing- Similar to the book path, you have your dedicated readers on your site that give you the credibility to attract other sites to pay you to write posts for them. I like this one. I love writing & love the idea of being able to take different topics to different audiences.

But I realized I want something more specific…I want a column. I want to write about the honest life of being a mom. The antics, the questions & the pressures of one of the most common yet unappreciated jobs out there.

So I’m going to cut my teeth here on my blog, who better to make your guinea pigs than your friends right? LPM will go a little like this….monday- mommy life post, wednesday- diy/craft/decorating post, friday- recipes & sunday will still be ‘Sunday Love’.

I’m going to build up my portfolio here with you & hopefully with your input I can really find my niche in the writing world. Sam is in school 3 mornings a week & I’ve decided to nanny-share with a friend to watch Sophie for a few hours 2 mornings a week so I can write. It feels like it’s a huge chance I’m taking. Now that the babysitter’s check has to be written I feel like I can’t just toy with the idea anymore. As my wise mom once told me “it’s time to sh@! or get off the pot.”

I don’t know why but I was really torn about whether or not to write about this here but then I figured why not? Why should I keep this a secret? Because I might fail? Well, yeah. There’s that. And that’s pretty freaking scary. People might judge me or doubt me? So what? Screw them. After writing about ‘mommy pills‘ & so many other posts that I was terrified to put out on the internet I’ve realized that the encouragement & support I receive from you guys doesn’t even begin to compare to the downsides of blogging about my life in a no holds back, honest way.

So that’s where I am. What do ya think? (please be nice please be nice please be nice)