I am so pleased to share an interview with one of my favorite blogging mommas. I have enjoyed reading her blogs for quite some time now and it gives me great pleasure to introduce her to all of you. If you haven’t read some of Stephanie’s work before, you are missing out! She has inspired me so much in the art of stretching a buck. Stephanie has a way of introducing new ideas for savings to her readers, and actually practices what she preaches. She seems to constantly challenge herself and her readers on ways they can save their family money. I hope that you will stop by Stephanie’s corner of the internet and show her some love today! She is a great friend and an incredible mother. In addition to that, she is a talented blogger that can offer you valuable information in learning how to make your dollars scream with mercy.
Please tell me a little bit about your blogs and how long you have been blogging for?
I have two blogs, Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood is my personal blog. It is what I do since I don’t scrap book, keep a journal or keep up the baby books. Stop the Ride! is where I blog about simple & frugal living & debt reduction.
I started 100 Acre Wood in Feb ’06 and Stop the Ride in Aug ’06.
Do your friends and family know about your blog or are you leading a secret blogging life?
I started blogging to keep in touch with family and friends, so yes, they know about it. In fact, many of my family members also blog.
What do you feel you have gained through your blogging?
There really are so many things. We had just moved out of state when I started blogging. It became a source for adult contact for me, and a community of sorts. I found so many interesting people. Many who see the world very differently than I do. You don’t get that in the real world as easily. It has increased my understanding of different groups a lot, but has also shown me that we really have a lot in common. We often want the same things from life, but see different paths to them.
What is your favorite feature on your blog right now?
The Make It From Scratch carnival at Stop the Ride! I love seeing all the different ideas, and the interaction of the people who participate. It does take a bit a of time to put together, but I really enjoy it!
What are you doing when you are not blogging? What do you treat yourself with?
Thinking about blogging. 🙂 This time of year you’d find me in the garden or perhaps on a foraging walk. A treat is any time I get alone. The biggest treat I’ve had lately was attending a retreat with the women from our old church. Tim kept all four kids!
What are some your favorite blogs?
Besides Motherload? The ones I’ve been reading the longest (except family ones) are:
Frugal Upstate
Butterfly Mama
Homesteading Neophyte
Scribbit
Do you experience writer’s block? Do you have a cure for it?
I more often have more ideas than I have time for. Since 100 Acre Wood is more like a journal I really don’t have writers block there. I just post when something interesting is happening; a lot!
Sometimes I get stuck for ideas for Stop the Ride! A couple things that seem to help me: First I keep a list of ideas written down. Some weeks I’m overflowing with ideas, almost never with time. The ones I don’t get posted I write down. Just a title or a few words to jog my memory when I want to write about it.
The other thing I do is stop, take some deep breaths, or even walk away from the computer for a bit. I think about what I’ve done the last few days. That is usually enough to give me an idea and get me going again.
What is your favorite thing to write about?
It is hard to choose, but I guess I’d say saving money, especially with food. I consider it a challenge to try to save, and it is a thrill to do it and then post about it.
Please share with me your favorite entry and tell me why it is your favorite?
Even tougher!
100 Acre Wood – Life Languages Live
This is one of my earliest posts. I just love the story and how it shows my kids’ personalities. Funny as I reread this tonight I thought where is Vivian in the story. Oh, she wasn’t even born yet. Seems impossible.
Stop the Ride!- A Stretched Chicken
I challenged myself to see how many meals I could make from one whole chicken. I had a lot of fun with these posts. There were four posts in the series. This is the last one. It links to the others.
**Would you like to be highlighted here in our blogger spotlight? Please email me at [email protected] and let me know! I am looking forward to doing a variety of interviews and getting to know our blogging community better!**