The Mother Load

Sounds like a soap opera, doesn't it?

As you saw in this post, I attended a seminar this weekend with the hubster, learned a ton, and came up with some great ideas on how to enhance and improve what I do here. I'm crazy excited (emphasis on the crazy, or course) to share with you some of the changes I'll be making to The Mother Load in coming weeks.

First, the Awesome Products feature will be going from monthly to weekly. I've had so many submissions for Awesome Products that they're stacking up, and once a month only comes around once a month. As much as everyone enjoys laughing at the Stupid Products, it seems like my readers enjoy learning about the awesome ones even more. I'm still working out the day Awesome Products will run, but I've got a pretty amazing product for my first weekly feature.

Stupid Products will keep its Wednesday slot, so keep those submissions coming. Outrageous News can stay or go. I don't feel strongly either way. If you love the feature or hate it, let me know. I think for me, it's sometimes hard to slog through all the petty "news" stories to find the one I'd like to feature. However, when I do find that one, I have a lot of fun writing it.

Beginning this Sunday, I'll be hosting a weekly blog carnival in which I'll feature the writing of other bloggers.  My aim here is to help fellow bloggers find success as I seek for it myself. If you're a blogger and would like my readers to read your work, submit your best post to The Mother Load Carnival of Writers by Saturday, 9:00 AM EDT each week. This carnival is open to all writers, both aspiring and professional, so send in those submissions and increase your site traffic!

Along the same lines, I'll be posting a new monthly feature in which I will profile a blogger I think people should be following.  I'll likely find many of these bloggers in my carnival submissions, but if you know of a blogger that should be highlighted, send a link to motherloadsubmissions@gmail.com.

I have another idea in the works that's still so deep in the early stages that I'm not sure how much I want to say.  It involves Race for the Cure, and I'm nearly bursting with hope and excitement over it.  I'll post more as I get more figured out.

Thanks so much for your continued support and commitment to The Mother Load.  I respect and admire all of you and am excited to keep writing more of what you like to read.  Keep sending in those submissions and inviting new fans.  Here's to a bigger, better Mother Load blog!

What is The Mother Load?
The Mother Load was the name of the weekly humor column I wrote for The Spectrum & Daily News in St. George, UT, from 2000 to 2009. It is now the name of the humor blog you see here today. It's quite punny, don't you think?

How did The Mother Load begin?
I knew I could write and thought I should be writing for the paper in my town. After receiving some much needed encouragement from a friend, I sent an email to the managing editor saying just that. She emailed me back and set up an appointment and asked me to bring in a few samples. After a moment of panic in which I wondered what samples were, I wrote two humorous pieces and a serious article about my son's medical condition (write what you know, right?). She laughed through the first humorous piece and said, "This is funny. I'm publishing it. Write something like this every other week." She introduced me to my first editor, Jennifer King (Hi, Jenn!), took my picture, and a column was born. Within 6 months, The Mother Load was bumped to weekly publication and the rest is history.

What can I expect from The Mother Load blog?
I used to have a schedule of daily and weekly posts I followed meticulously. I used to be way cooler than I am now. Nowadays, my kids are older and involved in more stuff (so much stuff) and I've got 2 part time jobs and a masters degree I'm pursuing. I post when I can and try to do that several times a week if not daily. What I Learned Today posts represent a running conversation with my mom, telling her what I learned via silly pictures and captions. Outrageous News, Stupid Products, and Awesome Products posts are just as they sound. When the inspiration hits, I write an old-school Mother Load Column. All this stuff is usually funny (to me) and always funny (to my husband). It might be funny (to you!).

Do the people in your "What I learned today" pictures know they're being posted on your blog?
Absolutely! I ask permission of all my What I learned today subjects. I also usually let them know what I'll be writing. This is not People of Walmart. Also, there's no way to turn off the shutter sound on my cell phone camera, so I couldn't take a surreptitious picture if I wanted to. (This means even my kids know when they're getting a blog pic taken.)

I have an idea for your blog! Can I send it to you?
Yes! I welcome all Mother Load column ideas and Stupid Products/Outrageous News/Awesome Product suggestions. I'll have an email account set up for this purpose by the end of the day and will post it on the main page. I regret that I can't accept pictures of people for the What I learned today feature, as I wouldn't be able to verify the subjects gave permission for their images to be used; however, if you'd like to send pictures for this feature that don't include human beings, I'm more than happy to check them out.

I love your blog! Should I tell my friends about it?
Yes, yes you should. As much as I'd like to say I'm doing this for the betterment of humanity, I do hope to make this blog profitable for my family. The more hits I get, the more money I make, and the more able I am to keep doing it. (If I can use the money to keep up with medical bills and sock away some money for the kids' college funds, that would be great too!) If you like what you see, share it!

Drumroll, please.

(Thanks!)

I'm posting my first pic and caption today in The Mother Load's new feature, "What I learned today." I'm not sure how often they'll be up at this point. I'd love to post these daily, but that will depend on how often I see funny things and take pictures and on how long it takes me to set up an email for this blog so readers can submit pics they'd like to see featured. For now, I'll post them as I find them. Hope you enjoy!

Hi everyone. This is the new home of The Mother Load, the wildly successful (right?) humor column I've been writing for The St. George Spectrum and Daily News for the past 9 years. The Mother Load has gone the way of Reading Rainbow...death by budget cuts...so I'm moving it here.

Don't be discouraged by the look of the blog at this point. I'm just getting started over here, and it's been a busy week. I have wonderful (WONDERFUL) friends helping me get moving on this despite my schedule. I think it may be because they're all addicted to their weekly dose of Mother Load and will go into horrible withdrawals and shave their heads and burn down their houses if it ends. I think that because it makes me feel powerful, muahahahahaha!

I kid. Thank you to Dawnyel for setting this up for me. And thanks to my MOFs and other friends who have pushed me into the world of the blogger. Welcome readers, both from the Spectrum and to those of you seeing The Mother Load for the first time.

Starting this week, I'll post a new edition of the Mother Load each week. Check back here for the day. I'm thinking Fridays, since that was deadline day at The Spectrum, so I'm already used to getting it done by then. I'll also be adding past editions of The Mother Load, picking out my favorites for you to enjoy all over again. I've got a few other ideas in development right now for weekly features I'd like to run in addition to the weekly columns. It's all very new and exciting!

I'd love for you to become a follower of the blog. I don't know how you do that. Ask Dawnyel... :) I'm also considering joining Twitter so I can let people know when new material is up. If anyone wants to tell me how the heck to use Twitter, I'd probably make you some homemade bread. A back rub is also a possibility,as long as you remain clothed. If someone can tell me how to add this blog to facebook via the fan app, you can have bread AND a back rub. You can have your back rubbed WITH bread (the cracked wheat really exfoliates)!

So there you go. I'm happy to be here. Here's to another 9 years (and more!) of The Mother Load.