Day 1 of 31 Day Blogging Challenge

Day 1 of 31 Day Blogging Challenge

I have started a 31 day blog challenge today that someone sent me. This is a really fun way to really introduce myself and tell people about who I am. Normally I don’t talk much about myself, but hopefully this helps with that. Read more about the challenge here.

My goal in doing this challenge is really to allow my readers the opportunity to get to know me better. I talk about myself in my blog when it relates to whatever I’m writing. But I really don’t go out of my way to talk about myself. Does anybody else have trouble talking about themselves in their blog? My first thought is always to go read my about me page or my intro blog post. This is a challenge!

Introduction

For starters, my name is Erica. I am also known as The Homemaking Wife. I am 33 years old, and I live in the pacific northwest with my husband, Nathan, and our Cat, Tigger.

Funny story about Tigger. His birthday is the day my husband and I had our very first date. I don’t know if that means anything or not, but it is a fun little fact. My thought on that is it was all meant to be. My cat is a jerk. A very cute jerk, to be honest. Tigger is spoiled rotten and he knows it. If you read my blogs or follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen the cuteness and read the stories about him.

Married Life

Nathan and I have been married since 2008. Our 11th anniversary will be coming up in November. Marriage is one of those up and down kinds of things. Some days we are amazing together, and some days we want to smother each other with pillows until the noise stops. I like to call it a balancing act. It is one of those things where I’d love to smother him with a pillow, but if I did that, I would miss him too.

I am an avid reader and in 2019 I have challenged myself to read at least one book per month. I follow this up with a review in my blog as well. Reading is an excellent way to expand our minds. I also like to call it self care. Because it is a time to put my phone or laptop down and simply focus on one single task that I enjoy. It is easy to forget taking the time to just relax with a good book, which is why I love this challenge so much.

Hobbies

My hobbies include playing golf. Although I don’t play nearly as often as I would like these days. That is something I plan on taking more time for this summer to enjoy. I am a crafty person. DIY projects are my best friend. I’m constantly researching how to do something or finding a new project. My husband probably thinks I am insane, and smiles and nods a lot in that department. I sew and cook quite a bit, those are easily my favorite hobbies.

I have the most beautiful antique Singer sewing machine. It is over 70 years old, and still works beautifully. Having belonged to a friend’s mom, and she was the original owner. He sold it to me when she passed. Then drove it nine hours from California to Oregon to drop it off with me. I smile at the memory every time I use the machine. It is a hobby that allows me to be creative while making useful things at the same time.

Cooking and recipes are easily one of my favorite hobbies to do. Finding a recipe and then tweaking it to be my own is fun for me. Learning and trying new flavor combinations. Then there are traditional recipes that I’ve been making for years as well. Those equal memories for me.

Tattoos

I have a bunch of tattoos, most of which I can cover up easily and no one knows they are there. I changed that in the fall when I started a half sleeve on my left arm. That tattoo will be completed later this month, and I am very excited about that. I had never considered putting a visible tattoo on my arm in my lifetime until this one.

It is a memorial tattoo for my best friend that I lost. It has been almost two years now. That is hard to believe that much time has gone by without him in my life. For my tattoo I picked my left arm because I wanted to see the tattoo. He was left handed and that just seemed a natural choice for me. One more way to honor him. I love seeing it every day because it is a reminder of the impact he had on my life as well as how far I’ve come since he died.

Blogging

I started my blog, The Prepping Wife, in October of 2018. It started as me wanting to follow a dream. I had never had the freedom to follow my own dreams or passions before that. I was the person forever putting my life on hold to take care of others around me. When that ended the question really was, who am I? Who is Erica?

That one blog grew into four, and I’ve never been happier. Maybe a little more insane from trying to run four blogs, but seriously happy.

I became interested in emergency preparedness and started prepping about a year before that. Naturally it was something I enjoyed talking about.

Which lead to my blog. There are not a lot of blogs dedicated to emergency preparedness, and the result is me starting mine. This is especially true for beginners. I wanted to help others become more prepared and in ways that make sense. It isn’t the same as what we see depicted on tv. It is far more “normal” and routine than that.

I prefer to talk about everyday situations where being prepared are useful in my blog. Such as extreme weather, power outages, natural disasters, things like that. The stuff people can relate to. I prefer to stay farther away from global disasters for now, because they are difficult to relate to.

That is the condensed version of who I am. A tattooed wife living with my husband and cat. Who sews, cooks, is a prepper, reads, and something of a writer as well. I am Erica. The Homemaking Wife.