Real deal zeal

I read homemaking blogs. I read cooking blogs. I read vintage blogs. I read gardening blogs. I read style blogs. I read motherhood blogs.

If there's a blog, I've read it.

Wait. No. That's not true. There's no way I could possibly read all the blogs on the Internet.

Some are about sports.

My own blog doesn't fall into one of the above categories. It is of the neighborly genre.

When you visit me here, I hope you feel as if you are visiting the lady next door--well, if the lady next door likes to bake and loves cats and kids and loud music and doesn't always mow her grass in a timely fashion and is okay with it if you don't mow your grass that much, either.

On this blog, you won't find gourmet recipes, the latest home and fashion fads, parenting tips from leading child psychologists, advice from a master gardener, or how to run a steel mill on a shoestring budget.

But you will find recipes I've tried, my attempts at style, and ideas on mothering and family. We can take a stroll out back to see if anything happens to be growing in the garden. We can play with the dogs and aggravate the cat.

Let's share thoughts about making the world friendlier and not wait until our lives magically turn perfect.

This is a blog about lowering standards!

We are allowed to be neighborly even if our teeth aren't whitened and there is still laundry on the couch from the other day.

You're on your own with that steel mill idea, though.