How the name came to be...

When I decided to do a blog, I knew I wanted a catchy title, not just Verhulst Place or Margot's Blog.  I don't expect this blog to really gain national attention, but just for my own sake, I wanted a cool name.   The first one that popped into my mind was Marge at Large.  I loved it and it was perfect... until of course, the availability checker tells me it's already taken. Boo.  So then the wheels started turning.  Everything from: The Goat's Quotes (if you don't know-- I have many nicknames, "The Goat" being one of them), A Note from The Goat, Margotto (also taken), Big Adventures of Large Marge or B.A.L.M (thank you, Kara Purdy) and finally, the one I was so close to going with.... The Goat She Wrote.  It was much more stressful than I think it should've been.  Then, I wrote Aunt Cinda in West Virginia.  She has good opinions about this sort of thing.  She told me that it should be about "what I'm trying to do....not all these nicknames".  At first it sounded cheesy, but then I agreed with her.  So thus came the laborious task of trying to capture what I'm "doing" with this blog.  ugh. As I mentioned, I'm simply trying to update friends and family.  

Otto went to bed and I was determined to have a name and blog started by Sunday night.  Who am I and what am I doing?? I'm a home ec teacher (although proper nomenclature is "Family and Consumer Sciences").  I like traveling. I have a couple nutty dogs. I enjoy doing domestic activities--- but only on MY terms... hmmm. And then it just popped in my head... HOME EC-SCAPE!  I was thrilled with it... and here's why: 1) I love to "Ec-scape" the home  = TRAVEL, 2) I wanted to "Ec-Scape" facebook (see first post) 3) I teach Home Ec, but am a complete departure from the stereotypical Home Ec teacher-- old, with children, (or maybe a spinster), somewhat plain and very experienced in domestic activities.  I do cook well, but not consistently.  I clean very thorougly, but again, not consistently.  Afterall, as a teacher, I attempt to get my students to buy-in to "ec-spcaing" the old school ways of thought in regard to gender roles and rather being open-minded to becoming well-rounded, well-informed, self-sufficient young adults. And lastly 4) I suppose blogging is somewhat of an introspective "ec-scape".  So there you have it.. the name in a nutshell.  Now let's get this thing started.

Ec-scaping Facebook

So... this new, amazing, totally earth-shattering blog, named Home Ec-scape, is finally born.  Really, I have never ever thought that I would want or LIKE to blog.   It seemed weird, too artsy, and honestly, just too time consuming.  And even more unlikely was the fact that I would leave Facebook or what a friend recently called "The dreaded book of faces", ha.  But this blog post is my first step to doing just that.  You see, Facebook started eating a little too much of my time, and apparently, reputations are made there--- so on Friday, at some point, I made a surprising decision (for those of you who know that I post, read, and comment quite a bit) to delete my account.  Now, it hasn't happened YET, and I have no idea how to do that, but the fact that I have this new outlet, will make (at least) the emotional part of it a little easier... and maybe the withdrawals.  Here's to hoping that some of those Facebook "friends"  that supposedly were entertained by and enjoyed my "updates" over there" will follow me to "Home Ec-scape" where the posts will serve the same purpose--- to "update" friends and family on my life in Texas as a (new school) Home Ec teacher, aspiring photographer, dog-owner, experimental chef, Anti-home ec wife, and travel-lover!  There we go... more tomorrow, when I tell you the story of how the blog name came to be... and some introductory pictures.  I won't lie... this is somewhat EC-CITING!! :)