Monday, September 13, 2010

Back 2 Blogging Day One

This week Grams is participating in The SITS Girls 5-day exercise called Back 2 Blogging. The assignment for Day 1 is to re-publish my original blog entry and answer the following questions.
  • How has your blog evolved since the beginning? 
  • If you could go back to the beginning of your blog and change something about it would you? What would you change?
My original blog entry, published Monday, September 14, 2009, was titled Martha and Rachel Taught Me To Cook.

Wow! I didn't realize that my blog will be a year old tomorrow. My blog has evolved to include posts with recipes and instructions for crafting. And, I've been doing a series of posts called "The Women on My Walk" dedicated to women who have been influential in my life. I've recently added a semi-regular post called The Sunday Funnies where I share some of the hilarious things that I've experienced in real life.

If I had it to do over again, there isn't actually much I would change about my blog. I would have started with a post about blogging and what I was hoping to accomplish with my blog. But, honestly, I wasn't sure what I wanted then. I had been unemployed for almost a year and needed someone to talk to and something to do in the daytime. I guess I started blogging to stay sane. It's given me a place to say what I need to say from time time to time and to share stories and pictures with my friends and family. Those were things I needed.

The name of my blog is intended to be a play on words. "Grams Made It" is a reference to cooking, sewing, and crafting ... it's also my state of mind. I originally thought it would eventually evolve into an online store where I would sell hand-sewn baby items. I just haven't ever gotten around to that, partly because of the technicalities involved in running an on-line business and partly because I've gone back to work part time.

Technically speaking, this original post should have contained links to Rachel Ray and Martha Stewart web sites, both of which are valuable references for beginning cooks. A couple of photos would have been good too. I always think photos add interest and keep the eye moving down the page.

Here's the original post in it's entirety.

That's right. I've learned to cook. And I learned from watching daytime television mavens Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray.

When I lost my job at 52 years old, I had very little cooking experience. Seriously, I was the most spoiled working woman ever. My darling husband did all the cooking. I never had to do it, so I never learned.

In the early 90's when my kids where in high school and middle school, my father-in-law had a heart attack. This led to my husband staying several days at the hospital with him. I dutifully came home at night and attempted to make dinner, usually spaghetti sauce from a jar, etc. Anyway, on the third day when the kids got home from school they asked if I would take them to the hospital. I was very touched and thought to myself "How sweet is that ... they want to visit their grandfather." So I took them to the hospital. Upon arrival in the cardiac ICU waiting room they both made a beeline for their dad. The first thing I heard them say was "Dad, you have to come home. Mom's been cooking!" At that stage of my life, even opening a jar and cooking spaghetti was a challenge and I didn't know how to do anything else.

When I lost my job I spent many, many days just sitting in front of the television. Finally, after the shock wore off, I realized that the only right thing for me to do was to take over the running of the household. That meant learning to cook.

I watched Martha Stewart every day. Martha teaches proper technique. If you want to know how to do something right, watch Martha. What I learned from Rachel Ray is that anyone can do it. Rachel just jumps right in and does it. She doesn't worry about cutting everything to exactly the same shape or size. She'll tell you "Just run your knife through it and chop it up."

Basically, Martha taught me HOW to do it and Rachel made me realize that I COULD do it. Thanks Martha and Rachel!

Today when I say "Grams Made It" I may be talking about dinner.

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One of the advantages of participating in the B2B exercise is the opportunity to win Thelma & Louise, a Turquoise Sky Washer and Dryer from Electrolux, valued at $4,000!! These lovely ladies will be given away thanks to sponsors Standards of Excellence, Westar Kitchen and Bath, and Florida Builder Appliances.