when is it tmi?

I've had a couple blog entries running around my head recently, but I haven't been able to bring myself to write them yet.  They deal with pubic hair styles and women's perceptions of their, um, private areas.  In order to write about any of this or explain why this is even an issue, I would have to tell a couple stories of my own--about getting older, about getting heavier, about being middle-aged, about trying to spice up my life a bit, about . . . well, you get the picture.

What is TMI (too much information)?  On one hand, I have no problem sharing things about myself.  It's my life and my body and if someone doesn't want to read about it, then they can choose not to.  I would provide lots of warnings--but wouldn't some people choose to read on and then have certain pictures they could never get out of my head?

Although I write here and don't often think about people reading it, I know that they do.  I have the link on my Facebook page, so it's available to all my Facebook friends--friends from gradeschool and high school, colleagues, relatives, my husband's relatives, my kids, my kids' friends, . . .  So then I thought that maybe I should just remove the link from my Facebook page.  But I like having it there, and I like the fact that people who've been out of touch for a while can find out what I've been up to in my life.

So for now, I am refraining from making the pubic public.

Is this the right choice?  Could I write about it in a way that would be entertaining enough to cancel out the TMI factor?  And would that make it okay?  And what about the fact that when I share the story verbally, it's still mine--but when it's on the web it belongs to everyone who links or copies it.

I'll have to continue pondering this, but I'm curious what people think.  What is TMI?

unemployment sucks bigtime

It's been almost five months since my husband lost his job. Our finances are in the toilet, our stress levels are high (even the kids are anxious a lot), and some days I think I've forgotten how to dream.

I know it will come back. I know it's a phase. But right now it just feels rotten. :(

lessons learned at the Wisconsin Highland Games

1. Men in kilts look much more manly than I had ever imagined...
2. ...especially in the heavy athletic events.
3. Some large men who say "but it's all muscle" are telling the truth.
4. Sometimes the caber turns over.
5. Total strangers sitting next to each other on the bleachers can have the most hysterical conversations.
6. A 150-member bagpipe mass band can reach into your soul in an unimaginable way.
7. Sometimes, when a man bends over wearing a kilt, it really is a good thing when it turns out he's not a true Scot.