Happy Monday all! I have to tell you, I’m so happy and excited. Today, much like Billy Madison, I’m going “Back to School”. But—it’s school to help me fine-tune my blogging skills—or rather to acquire blogging skills. The Blog-god has answered my prayers.

I look up to the Blog-god for answers and help. BTW. Like my eyelashes? It’s Tarte’s “Lights, Camera, Lashes” mascara.  Bonaparte thought they were falsies! I had to pull on them to prove to my Frenchman that they were, in fact, real!

WordPress is my mentor!

Trust me, I’ll still be the same, imperfect, hot mess me—but I’ll just be better at it.

Anyway, I’ll be sharing my writing assignments with you as posts. So…just as my crossed-eyes see double. There may be days when you will be seeing double posts!

Check it out. I’m cross-eyed as a bat. But the beauty is, I get to see double of the great things around me. Bad thing is that I get to see double of the not-so-great things around me–like the fact I didn’t remove all my eye makeup from yesterday!

It’s all good! No. It’s all GREAT!!!

OK—I’m no longer that girl in school. The one who wrote her stuff bent over her desk, head to the paper so nobody else could see what I was writing. Yeah. You know what I’m talkin’ about!

No longer am I the one who will click her tongue at anyone who I think would be trying to cheat off of me. (Actually, I was, at times the one glancing at others’ papers!).

Come on in. Open that black and white composition book of mine!

Come on in. Open up my composition book for the next few days. It’s OK. I won’t tell Sister Mary Arthur!

Grab a cuppa cawfee, or tea for that matter, and read some more about me in my first assignment!

Name: Cathe                                                                                                  Date: August 3, 2015

Subject: About Me

1. Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?

I am blogging publicly because I want to share all the stuff that my 60-year old self has to offer. Not all of us are perfect. Hey—most of us aren’t perfect. I have days when I feel life is so wonderful and want to share life’s greatness with others. I also have days when I feel like wanting to crawl into my bed and hibernate for a good six months (and not because it’s the only way I’ll stop my emotional binge-eating and drop those unwanted twenty pounds). Point is–we are all relatable. I want to relate!

It’s also important to have a good laugh every day.   A tiny dose of humor can make the dullest or most pitiful day just a little…..bit…brighter.  I try to find one thing to laugh about each day. Mostly something about my misgivings to make me laugh. I just want to share that with others!

Why be selfish and keep that stuff to myself?

The only “journals” I keep are my travel journals–but I don’t keep my travels to myself either! It’s all out there!

2. What topics do you think you’ll write about?

OMG. I have written about any and every aspect of my life as I know it. From my hair loss issue to my filthy car. From my unemployment to my helicopter mom days. I write about what life is like for a crude slob like me who happens to have a better half who is a refined Frenchman. My travels, my clothing, my music. Whatever strikes my fancy for the day is basically what I’ll write about. There is no subject off limits to me—but I’ll write honestly and with a sense of humor and humanity.

3. Who would you love to connect with via your blog?

It’s funny. But I wanted to blog for a long time. I had this “vision” that my blog would be solely geared to women, and even men, over a “certain” age. You know, people like me—cows who have been put out to pasture. I wanted to concentrate on ageism and how to dress when you get older…blah, blah, blah.

Then I wrote my first post in January—as soon as I lost my job (catching a trend here?). My writing kind of evolved where I just wanted to write to everybody!!! Not just older people. We can all relate to job loss, sadness, happiness, music, fashion, recipes and just about everything. So I would just love to connect with anyone who is out there and feeling a bit intimidated by the perfectionists of this world. We all don’t wake up looking beautiful.

Sometimes we are that person whose shirt tails are sticking out—or who left the house with two different shoes. Ya know?

What you see is what you’ll get. I’m NOT that perfect blogger. I’m not that beautifully made up woman. I’m just normal..and I love it that way. I wake up looking like this. And worse!

4. If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

There are different measures of success. For me, I’ve been successful already because I have a small group of readers who follow my blog. I consider them more like my friends rather than “followers” per se. The people who have entered into my life via my blog have given me success because they want to hang with me. They actually enjoy reading about the things I write about.

I’m successful because I’ve been able to make my circle of Atypical60-ers share the emotions I write about! I’ve accomplished that!

Hopefully, the more I blog, the more people will discover my blog and my circle of friends will grow.

I am grateful and happy for my friends who regularly read my blog—they have helped me to feel successful!

I’m looking a bit more human here.  I would like to introduce myself to you now!

And…with that, do you really think I would end a post without a little song? Un uh! My homme, Jacques Dutronc with the most appropriate “Et moi, Et moi, Et moi”! XOXOXOXO!

#blogging101