Not a food blog.The short version
“Shiny Butter” comes from one time when I was at a party where a friend had on this silky, liquidy golden shirt that I said looked like “shiny butter.”
And I liked the sound of that so much I started a blog.
Yes, that’s all the reason you need to start a blog.
The medium version
Shiny Butter really doesn’t mean anything in particular—this is how I keep the magic alive.
I started this blog because I like to tell stories. I squeeze the things I write here into these basic categories:
And listen, I’m so sorry if you were ended up here thinking this is a food blog. It’s not. Here’s a food-related post, just for your trouble.
The long version
Shinybutter.com was born several years back and wandered the world wide web back then in a fun and wacky, slightly aimless but enjoyable way.
I wrote mostly stories in those days—about my kids, about goofy or crazy stuff I did, about my dashboard hula girl, Fernanda, and her horrific accident where she melted right over on the dashboard one hot day, about my mom on her birthday, and even a tribute to a friend who passed away—that one was called “Dammit, Rosie, We Had Plans.”
Then one day my blog got hacked and everything was terrible.
There was great wailing and gnashing of teeth on my part.
There were all these posts sitting in some sort of internet halfway house waiting to be de-hacked so they could come back home. Some posts were recovered, some I took the opportunity to ditch, and some posts got lost forever.
The post about Rosie got lost forever.
At first I was devastated and deflated staring at my empty blog, but then I just started all over again. Hey, every day’s a school day.
I’ve thought about changing the name from “Shiny Butter” to something more “professional”
Lucky for all of us I didn’t.
I tried all sorts of names that were more business-y and grown-up. Blog names that showed I was serious! But nothing else felt right, and one day it dawned on me:
Don’t try so hard. And don’t pretend.
Because no matter what I tried, I couldn’t make The Shiny Butter Blog behave or conform or settle down or focus or just act like a nice, respectable blog.
So yeah, The Shiny Butter Blog is a wander-y misfit of a thing—kind of a weirdo amongst all the highly focused and purposeful blogs about important things like goals and parenting and fixing up your house and budgeting and working out and eating butter mindfully.
So I gave up trying to act right or fit in, and here we are
I still write about the same sorts of sometimes ridiculous, sometimes meaningful, once in a while very important things I did back in the pre-hacking days, only now maybe I’m a little more organized about it all. Sort of. Mostly.
Thanks for dropping in, and enjoy your stay.
p.s. Since you’re here, take a look at some of my favorite Shiny Butter posts:
Laundry is My Love Language, Peace is My Religion
What to Do When Someone Throws You a Flaming Beach Ball
Here’s Ginger: She’s 20, and There’s No Better Dog
Wanna Know Who’s a Bitch? Hurricane Florence, That’s Who.
This Drag Queen is Doing the Lord’s Work
Speaking of World Peace, Leave a Big Tip—It’s What Good Humans Do
Democrats Who Were Blindsided in 2016, Let Me ‘Splain What Happened and Who to Blame
Thinking of My Dad, Who Would Be 80 Today
On Party Stamina, Middle-Aged Selfies, and the Costco Where God Buys in Bulk
PLUS you get the FREE "Feel-Good-in-a-Crazy-World Starter Guide." 
