I Used to Be Original Before Pinterest, I Promise.

Here's the thing about Pinterest. I love to hate it. I mean, of course I love it- who doesn't love a bunch of great, fun, inspiring ideas all loaded on to one easy to navigate website? I'd be a moron to be a party planner who boycotts Pinterest.

When I first got on Pinterest a couple of years ago I had the mentality of, "Well, I don't want people to see my ideas... I mean, everyone will steal them..." and then I quickly came to my senses and realized, "Oh ya, these are not MY IDEAS!" They are ideas I'm attracted to that someone else actually came up with and photographed and probably blogged about... I stake no claim to them other than the fact that I've pinned them. So why do I get so excited if someone repins "my" pin? 9.9999 times out of 10, it is not my idea... yet somehow I've convinced myself it is kind of mine, because I pinned it. Ya, mine and a million other peoples'... oh and the actual person whose idea it really was- but other than them, it's totally mine. Gosh this website has made me crazy I think.

Confession: I have arranged the frames in my house on only the corners of my walls- which is an idea I found on Pinterest... which as I just mentioned means a lot of other people have also done this, which means- I am really not THAT unique. Which is crazy because I am totally unique. Or at least I used to be... OK, I actually have proof on this one. I was voted Most Unique in High School, class of '98, Hawthorne High. So there... at least at one point before Pinterest I can say I had an original idea or two- at least my High School class thought I did. Then again I was one of 5 white kids (I mean Caucasian...) at my school... so I guess that probably made me unique... hmmm... I wonder what they were exactly referring to when they said Unique... I should have had this clarified...

The viral corner wall frames Pinterest photo... on walls nationwide...

Told ya...

I remember back in the day when if you wanted to create ideas for things- you did this crazy archaic thing where you got out a notepad, wrote down the subject in the middle of the page, followed by a big oval around it and then lines stemming from it and.... wait for it.... BRAINSTORMED! When my kids are older they probably won't even know what this word means! Well not if I have anything to do with it!

Aside from now always feeling like my ideas are "inspired by" instead of original... Pinterest has also put this weird pressure on me to craft as in, CRAFFFFT the heck out of things I normally wouldn't even bother with. And the crazy thing is- I love to craft! And I'm not just saying that either! I used to (and sometimes still) feel like the only thing I am really and truly good at in life is creating things like crafts. Now if I am not crafting up my next wall hanging I am failing in the crafting department...

Why would I want to do this?! As if I don't have enough melted crayons on things in my home and all over my patio... now I'm creating this mess on my wall?

And it's not just crafting pressure either... Pinterest has made me doubt myself in a number of other ways too! Let me name a few...

The 101 Lists.
If you think I want to read through 101 of anything, you've lost it. "101 Ways To Play With Your Kids This Summer", I have an idea- get off Pinterest and go play with them! "101 Things To Do With Your Husband This Year". Let me tell you- nothing about this number excites me, I mean- even if I got through 50 of them, I'd still have less than half finished, a terrible success rate! If you're looking to pique my interest, try a "10 Ways" list- I might actually- I don't know, get through 1 of them? Oh and to whoever wrote the husband list: trust me, you do not want me and my husband crashing your yoga class, that right there is a recipe for disaster.

Sure, why not add "Write A Book" to my Summer schedule?!

The Recipes. 

If you've been reading for any amount of time you know I suck at cooking and have no desire to learn how. Fresh and Easy is a staple in my home and I can honestly say I have never looked to Pinterest for a recipe. One less reason to be on there, thank God. I'm not opposed to pinning recipes but I'm looking for something more in the range of "What Cereals Combos Make A Meal" or how about a, "How to Make a Meal in 30 Seconds" pin... I mean... this stuff about "30 Minute Meals" being so ideal... what am I made of- time?!

Might I also remind you of this fun new trend on Pinterest... thinking you can cook/bake any pin you see because there's a recipe attached... only the humble admit they can't... and I want to be BFF's with all of them...

Nothing like a good Pinterest Fail to put a smile on my face...

The Teacher Gifts. 
As of last year I didn't even know teacher gifts existed outside of Christmas. I mean, my son is only 4 so this whole school thing is still pretty new to us. My Mom is a HUGE gift giver and only got my teachers a Christmas gift... and yes, of course it always had an apple on it. (Ornament apples, apple pencil holders, apple pins... you name it: it had an apple.)

This year my son's friend's mom started off the school year by giving the teachers in the boy's class "Beginning of the Year" gifts she was inspired to make via Pinterest. What in the world?! Thanks Pinterest for making me look like a less than thoughtful mom who doesn't care about welcoming my son's teacher back. I mean, they hadn't even shaken the sand out of a shoe yet and we're doing gifts?! 

I went big at Christmas, because that's to me when all of your gratitude and gift giving should be done... PLUS I didn't give one thing with an apple- which I'm sure they were beyond pleased with. Then Teachers Appreciation Week rolls around and thank God for free printables because I was able to throw some "I Donut What I'd do Without You" donuts their way... and now, I swear to you this- I am seeing on Pinterest "End of the Year Teacher AND Friend Gifts." Now, teacher gifts I can kind of understand (doesn't mean I have the time/money to make/buy any)... but I can wrap my head around it- it's like a, "thank you for wiping all of the snot off of my child's face and singing all those songs I don't want to" sentiment.... But now, the friend gift? Seriously? What am I thanking them for? Dumping sand on my kid's head? Giving my kid an innumerable amount of colds? Telling my kid you don't want to play with them today and making them cry about it later? No way, Pinterest... you will not win me over on this one! You're lucky if I have this "friend" over even ONCE during the Summer and no I won't be doing even one of the 101 Summer Activities with them either!

End of Year friend gift by Happy Home Fairy... which is just the perfect name for making gifts like this.

Valentine's Day.
I got sucked in this year, I will not lie. I used it as a way to promote Miss Party Mom and attached a business card to every Heart Shaped Cake Pop Valentine.. because every 4 year old loves a good business card on their Valentine, right? And if you're thinking I hand made those heart shape cakes, you're nuts. They were Little Debbie's no-bake cakes and I saw the idea on Crissy's Crafts and no-bake just calls to me. I will admit, they took a ton of time to assemble. In my day, Valentine's were less than $2 a box and took 30 minutes to fill out. Now if you're not spending $1 (at least!) a pop and spending copious amounts of time assembling your child's Valentine... you're a total Pinterest-Mom failure. You might as well just shut down your account.

I didn't totally think through the fact that they were probably eaten with the cards used as napkins by the time they actually got home for their parent to see- a good attempt at advertising anyway?

The Family Photo.
It used to be the case that going to Sears, JC Penney or another photo studio was an OK way to take a family picture. Nowadays, with Pinterest around... if you're not like climbing some giant rock formation in the middle of nowhere with your entire family, (I'm talking all 4 generations) staggered at different heights on different rocks... you're obviously not a Pinterester. Back in the day the artsy shots were reserved for the beach... then it moved on to the backyard wooden fence. Then came the brick wall. Then we moved on from walls to things like railroad tracks, the middle of the street (who's genius idea were these?! Danger anyone?) as well as other funky "town landmarks". Last year was the load-your-grandma's-vintage-couch-in-to-a-truck-and-drop-it-off-in-a-field-to-take-family-photos-on-it year. Now the couch is gone but the flower fields are in- an oak tree if possible. Low branches to sit on? Even better. Everything is moving towards "natural" and "real light." Studio shots are SO yesterday. In other words if you're not planking the Grand Canyon (together) in your artsy family pic... consider yourself dead. To Pinterest anyway.

The Birthday Parties.
Of course, I am totally guilty of this one. If you type in Miss Party Mom on Pinterest I am totally a contributor to the crazy party phenomenon. But hear me when I say, my parties are still on a budget people! I am the wife of a youth pastor ok, we're not throwing wedding budget parties over here! Some of these parties I see for 1-year-olds are insane! I mean, even I can say a 1-year-old doesn't actually NEED an elephant at their Circus Party! Buy a freakin' stuffed animal if you're looking for some elephant presence!

Ok, I may have been exagerating about the elephant... but this? THIIIIS?? This is straight crazy and no one can achieve this or should even try.

The Exercizing.
While I am pretty OK with my self image- I do not want pictures of tight abs and butts bogging up my Pinterest home page all day. Utilize the Secret Boards and add your crazy workout inspiration photos there, people! You don't want all of your friends walking around with your same abs anyway- do you?! Title the board "Just Do It" for all I care... just don't make me feel like I have to Do It! No one needs to see all that naked tight skin on a regular ol' day of waking up to making non-pinterest-worthy pancakes! None of that inspires me, all it makes me think about is how incredibly thankful I am my husband has put on 15 lbs since we married, alleviating me of ever feeling the need to pin "ab and butt lift workouts." The minute I start feeling the need to go on Pinterest for work outs is the minute I start feeling the need to learn how to cook... to put more weight on him, which will in turn take the burden off of me to be toned once again... Genius! At that point I'll be living on Pinterest, with never an original thought to be had again.

NO I don't want to see this, I'd actually rather go melt crayons than think about doing any of this. And that's sayin' something.

And while I've just listed all of the reasons Pinterest has made me feel like a less than worthy crafter and Momma... I think I'll go spend an hour on it... because you know, I've got a party to plan... and why wrack my brain when I can just scroll down a page...

Oh and follow me duh... www.pinterest.com/misspartymomma I have lots of great ideas... which in fact are not mine! How inspiring I am!?