Mommybloggers: Welcome, Jessica! Tell us about the name of your blog…why Kerflop?

Jessica: I started blogging (publicly anyway) at Very Mom and after a couple years, I had an identity crisis. I wanted to change the way I was writing and what I was writing about and while I could certainly do that at my current domain, I started itching for a new one. I took a long break and came back with a different web design, but it still felt all wrong. I sat in front of a domain registrar and punched in every ridiculous, meaningless name I could think of - it seemed like everything was taken. I was aiming for something without the word "mom" in it and something that could umbrella a wider range of topics. Not that you can't write about web Jessica: standards as a mom, it was just sort of a mental block for me. I tried everything from tomatosoup.com to kerplunk.com and somehow found kerflop, which was amazingly available.

And look, I still write about my kids but it just feels better.
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Mommybloggers:You're an amazing artist, craft maven, design pro, and business person, in addition to being a gifted writer. So often, mothers of young children struggle to find the time to pursue artistic expression. Motherhood doesn't seem to have slowed you down. Have you always had this much energy?

Jessica: Have I always been a hyperspaztick-nutsoid? Why yes, I'm afraid I have. When I was a little girl, I got one of those complex dollhouse kits for my birthday. It had all these little pieces that needed to be sanded and carefully glued together. The house needed to be shingled and painted and all the furniture pieces had to be constructed. I wallpapered it and carpeted it and made additional furniture out of cardboard. I completed it in two days. I worked in the garage and only went inside at my mother's pleading to eat and sleep. I've always had to have a project going. Always. If there's nothing to do, I start taking apart appliances to see how they work. I've been told there is medication for this.

It's always a struggle to juggle everything. I never envisioned motherhood this way, I was all for the dreamy pie in the sky 1950's version of homemaking. I wanted the aprons and the homemade cookies. I had no desire whatsoever to be a business woman or know anything about computers. I sort of fell into it and just keep trying to keep the plates spinning. If I'm doing well in one area, another area is suffering. Feminists everywhere will get their panties in a knot, but I really don't think you can have it all. At least not without acres and acres of cash to spend on nannies and housekeepers. If I'm knee deep in shop inventory, I guarantee nobody will have clean underpants and my oldest will be wearing pajama bottoms to pre-school.

Mommybloggers: How did you get into blogging? Have you always been a writer?

Jessica: My first child was still a tiny baby and my husband and I had launched our fabric business. We were working out of a rented town home that boasted a one car garage. It was filled to bursting with rolls of fabric. More fabric filled the spare bedroom, hallway, and sat in the front room. We had two desks crammed up against our sofa and I worked almost around the clock. I'd bounce my son on my lap at two in the morning while I taught myself HTML so I could figure out how to maintain our website. One night, my kitchen was overrun with ants and I just felt so exhausted. My son had taught himself to crawl while I toiled away on the computer. I opened a free blogger account and just started brain dumping. Customers thought I had it all together, marveled at how I could run a successful business and be a loving sling wearing, cloth diapering momma all at the same time.

They needed to know the answer to the question, "How do you do it all?" was, "I'm not. I can't."

I have always written, though I still refuse to call myself a writer. People who never proofread aren't writers. People who have no idea where to insert a semi colon aren't writers. My mom used to sit down with me every day and record the things I said in a blue journal. When I learned to write, I took over. I wrote faithfully every single day until I got married. You can see the impressive collection of what should be burned immediately here.

Mommybloggers:Your stories always sparkle with warmth and affection. With your family reading, as well as thousands of virtual strangers, do you feel leery about sharing your family stories and photos?

Jessica: I do. It was one of the things that changed when I switched domain names. I deleted a lot of my older archives and censor myself a great deal when it comes to my children. I think about how mortified I was when I overheard my mother talking about how I was going through a phase with one of her friends. I don't ever want my children to feel embarrassment over what I've written about them on the internet, though I do realize they'll go through a stage where the air will embarrass them. I try to think about what I would have liked to read if my mother had kept a journal, and maybe some things they'll have to learn to appreciate as they get older. But absolutely, I am much more cautious than I was in the beginning and protect many of my flickr photos so only family members can see.

Mommybloggers:We have to ask – what do you think about the term "Mommyblogger?" Do you embrace it, or reject it?

Jessica: I've gone back and forth on this. On one hand I feel like the word "mommy" is such an intimate word. Small people I drive myself crazy serving every single day are entitled to call me this. I don't like hearing myself called a "mommyblogger" when someone says it in a sneering, condescending way. However, "Blogs Written by Women who are Also Mothers" is just too darn long to say. Or type. And there are a lot of us for a reason. Motherhood can feel so isolating, I think we as women tend to be so hard on ourselves, feel like everyone out there has it all together while we alone sit amidst our dirty laundry crying about the melted popcicle on the kitchen floor. Mommyblogs unify mothers in a way that just wasn't possible before this whole self publishing world exploded on the scene. And in that regard, I embrace the term.

Mommybloggers:What is the greatest benefit to maintaining your own blog? Have you discovered any negatives?

Jessica: Before I started deleting my old archives, I used www.blogprinting.com to publish all of my writings. Since I manage to keep up the baby books next to never, I'm so happy I have a record of some of the hardest years of my life (so far). I think record keeping is important, I would have loved to read my mom's writings from when she was struggling through her initiation into parenthood. Maybe my kids will appreciate all this stuff someday too.

Negatives? Oy, the hate mail, though I haven't gotten any in quite a while (knock on wood), it's amazing how a bit of anonymous venom can really punch you in the stomach and suck the wind right out of you. It sucketh royally.

Mommybloggers:Tell us about your background. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? When you looked into your future, what did you want to be?

Jessica: I was really awkward. I wish I had an older sister to sort of guide me through all of those horrible adolescent years, but I had to power thorough on my own. I just die when I read my old journals from back then. Popularity was so important and such a struggle, it's painful to read. I grew up in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. My parents were strict, but awesome. I am very close to all 3 of my siblings and my mom is my best friend.

I wanted to be a nurse from the time I was about 3. I didn't finish nursing school and often contemplate figuring out how I could go back. But then, I also contemplate how to muster up the energy to get out of bed in the morning.

Mommybloggers:What are you passionate about?

Jessica: My beautiful children and model husband give me the courage to face each new day of ketchup flinging and diaper changing so I must be passionate about them or I would have flung myself off a building long, long ago. I of course, champion the use of re-suable cloth diapers and work hard to convince everyone owning a Dyson is the best $500 you can spend, ever. I'm also insanely uptight about web standards. So don't ever ask me what I think of your website unless you're ready for a power point presentation. Oh and loving the skin you're in. Nothing chaps my hide quicker than a perfectly lovely woman with gorgeous, realistic curves whining about how fat she is. And world peace! Has anyone made that joke already?

Mommybloggers:Give us seven words that describe you:

Jessica: I just can't do this one. I just keep thinking about my bad haircut I got recently and I want to type "bad haircut" over and over and over.

Mommybloggers:Please tell us we'll see you at BlogHer this summer… you are going, right? RIGHT?

Jessica: Eep! I'm not sure. My husband and I were considering going together, after all it isn't often you get a chance to boogie it up at the W. But it's all up in the air, so we shall see.

Mommybloggers:Where do you think blogging is headed? What about internet celebrity? What impact can online writers expect to have on the world?

Jessica: It's been amazing to watch so far, I couldn't possibly make any predictions. It's been fun to watch the publishing tools expand and grow and watch the powerbloggers get media attention, money, and fame. Corporations have blogs now, and television show hosts, it's all just incredible.

After an experience last year when I skyrocketed from my piddly 3000 pageviews a day to 11,000 - I have absolutely no desire to become an internet celebrity. The crazies that come out of the woodwork when you're getting that much traffic is insane.

I think the impact they already have is pretty amazing. You can't watch the news without a blogger getting a mention anymore, I think blogging really has given a voice to the people that can't be ignored. Well, some of the more exciting potty training blogging maybe can be ignored. But only if you're more interested in the 2008 presidency and pshaw, who cares about that? Bring on the training pants.

Mommybloggers:We know you have a number of projects in the works – what can we look forward to hearing more about?

Jessica: If I told you, I'd have to kill you! (she laughs shrilly and uncomfortably). Who knows, really. If I start thinking about all the things I want to do, my head explodes. I'd like to create more free Wordpress themes and continue boring my audience with some CSS and design tutorials. All the while shouting about web standards and how important it is to validate your XHTML. I know, you can hardly wait, right?

Mommybloggers:And here are the questions we subject all of our featured bloggers to (With apologies to Bernard Pivot and Inside the Actors Studio):

1. What is your favorite parent related word? Poopoo. I'm sorry, but when my kids are around 16, 17 months old and they're learning to communicate verbally more and more, one of the first words they learn is poopoo. And I can't even stand it, the cuteness of the pursed lips and the concentration on their faces. I especially love when they start telling me they need to go. I start sitting them on the toilet as soon as they have the word associated with the actual act. And my kids have all trained really early. I know, go me, right? HAND ME A MEDAL.

2. What is your least favorite parent related word?
Poopoo when we're in the middle of a long line at Target, miles away from the restroom and I've left the diapers and wipes in the car.

3. What is your favorite creative censored curse word used around children?
My whole life is creative censored curse words. Growing up in a family where cursing was not acceptable, I've only ever let the occasional "H" and "D" slip for real. My life is full of "OH MY HECK" and "FREAKING FRACKING FREAK!" and a family favorite, "BOOGERS AND CHEESE!"

4. What is your favorite hiding place within your home when you need to get away from it all?
The front room. If I curl up with a magazine on the sofa in there, I quite possibly won't be found for a solid 8 minutes.

5. What hiding place have you been found in too often and can no longer use?
The bathroom. That is the first place they look.

6. If Oprah exists, what would you like to hear her say when you arrive at the Oprah Winfrey show when she features the Mommybloggers?

"Hey, [Jessica / Kerflop], you have treated people with such care, tender care, and kindness. You smell like flowers."
Points if you can name the reference: