Saturday, September 6, 2008

Justification....or Rationalization?

Whew! I only have 59 minutes left before I turn into a pumpkin,....but more importantly, before I miss a day in the September to Remember contest - and give Lea, Mary, Laura, Lori, Jilma, or Kanani a chance to slip by me into the #1 spot.
(You did know I was in the Top Spot, didn't you girls? :)

Why am I so late tonight? Inquiring minds want to know (and so does my husband...who is waiting for me to make the bed so he can get into it.)

Well, there are two possible reasons.

(1) I got my weekly sitemeter.com report and noticed that my average number of readers this week was 77 per day. However, the number for today was only 33. So, being the Brainy Blogger I am, I figured most readers must take the weekend off.

So, why blog into thin air?, I not-so-humbly asked myself.

On the other hand, I realized that perhaps one of my sly competitors might have rigged the sitemeter thingy to throw me off. Mary's very good at computers...and Kanani is a math whiz... Either one of them are capable of something complex like that.

And Laura's very competitive (even used to be in the armed forces),so maybe all the stress of the contest got the best of her. Heck, even Lea isn't above trying to get the edge on me. After all, this contest was her idea and she's putting a ton of time into her (very lengthy and sentimental, picture-laden) blog. She's going to feel awful when she loses to me.

Jilma or Lori?....Nah...Jilma is too busy with her mega-babies to even post daily. And Lori...well, she's blogging about Scripture memory, for heaven's sake (literally). No way would she do it. Her blog might get hit by lightening or the ground might open up and swallow her laptop.

(2) If it's not a plot to destroy me (and deprive me of my rightful grits), then it could be because I spent 3+ hours tonight Blog Hopping on different decorating blogs.

I'm pretty sure it's (1).

So, I don't have pictures of a corner of my house tonight. Although I could show you a picture of this comfy chair my behind has been sittin' in for the past 180 minutes.

But instead I offer you a few paragraphs from a book I'm reading to justify...er, inspire me in my current House Focus/Infatuation.

It's from Keeping House by Margaret Kim Peterson (and even though time is ticking and I now only have 42 minutes left, I'm going to link you to amazon, because I care about you (and there may be a tie-breaker where you'd have to vote - so I need to keep you firmly on My Side.)

Uh, Oh...I just wasted 10 minutes trying to choose from the pages and pages I'd like to quote from.

This book is SO GOOD.

I've been especially convicted by the chapters on food. I've been surprised to read how much the Bible has to say about food, not just the eating of it, but the choosing and the preparation also. Jesus used food in many analogies. One of the fundamental characteristics of humans embodied nature is that people need to eat, and they need to eat every day.

OK, I give up. Tomorrow is the Sabbath and that would be a better day to quote from this book anyway, since it's all about the sacredness of keeping a house.

And that gives me another day of blogging material, without having to upload any pictures or clean any corners of my house to be photographed.

Like I said, I am One Brainy (rationalizing) Blogger.

14 comments:

Kelley said...

Boy does it make me feel like a bloggy-loser when I hear how many hits you girls get on your blogs:-)

I've so noticed that too about the weekend...hence, I haven't posted in 3 days. Then again, I have an average of 13 people reading my blog per day during the week and probably about 5 per day on the weekend. I don't sound jealous, do I?

Have a wonderful Lord's Day!

Mrs. Pittman said...

Dear, sweet Kelley -
And the reason some of us have 77 readers is because of people like YOU! So, if I haven't told you lately...I appreciate the time you take coming to visit me. I really, really do!

Your blog is going to be an incredible treasure to your daughter one day - and already is to your mother and sister(s). It's a great "journal" blog.

And it's been good for the rest of us to see how a young missionary wife deals with life on the field.

Keep it up - And don't worry about readership. Unless you have advertising to worry about paying for - then 13 readers is great.

Laura said...

O.K. How do I get one of those things that tells me how many people visit my blog. You can say all the nice things you want because you had 20 comments on your blog!

If the lurkers won't comment, I at least want to know they are looking.

Mrs. Pittman said...

Geesh, Laura...Did you even read the post after you saw that 77 number? I should go back and delete that and just say something generic-like. How bout, "I noticed less people reading on the weekend." But you know, I believe in transparency to a Fault.

So, I'll skip the nice words about your blog - and how interesting it was for us unadventurous homebodies to read about your world-wide camping trip. And how we even enjoy reading your comments just to see how sweet your mom is to you (even though it makes us miss our own moms who are in heaven..Probably not reading blogs.)

You can go to sitemeter.com and follow the directions to sign up. Make sure you get just the basic free stuff. It's plenty more than a regular blogger needs to know.

Thanks to you and Kelley, I have a nice post brewing in my mind about The Purpose of Blogging.

I will just add, that it helps knowing people are reading. I see amazing blogs all the time that have NO comments - and I wonder if I could keep this up if I didn't know anyone cared.

BTW- If you keep on reading past that horrible number 77, you'll get to the part about the great book I'm reading. :)

Mrs. Pittman said...

One more thing...

It does help your comment total rise if you keep commenting on your own blog :)

And one more more thing -
That 77 could have been people coming twice. Like if you read my blog - then came back to see if I commented on your comment. Then came back to see if I commented on MY comment.

Have a great Sabbath. I'm going to put my blog-thoughts behind me and "set my mind on things above" for a few gracious hours!

Kelley said...

Yes, you are right and I will be so glad I took the time to blog 10 years + down the road...even if I don't have TONS of people reading, commenting and making me feel really special like some people get on their blogs. Haha...just kidding...I am so glad I decided to start blogging. It's been a wonderful outlet for me and even those 13 daily readers I have make it even better since I take the time to really think about what I want to write about. Anywho, I STILL reserve the right to complain when anybody admits they get more than 20 hits a day on their blog:-)

Ok, I'm off to try and think of some incredible post that may pull in 15 readers for today. ha!

Anonymous said...

the 77 number is a very Biblical number, isn't it? and i have only checked your blog 72 times to see if you were going to post today in case you didn't and i might have won! alas, you made it by hook or by crook....

Mrs. Pittman said...

Just an observation clarification, my Blog Time shows about 45 minutes earlier than it actually is. Sure wish I would've known that last night.

Anyone know how to fix this (when September is over? :)

Meg in Tally said...

I think the blog 'post' time (at least in Blogger) is when you initiate the post...as in when you push the "New Post" button and it takes you to a blank page.

Laura, et.al., when you sign up at sitemeter or wherever (there are several free counters) make sure you block your own computer. Then you'll know that all the hits are really OTHER people, not just you checking/editing your blog.

Weekends are kind of slow in the bloggy world --do people really have other things to do?

One more thing...Princess, you KNOW I would NEVER stoop to playing with your sitemeter --especially since I don't know how! I would probably make my OWN look better, if I did.

Okay, one more thing...Just to let you know...my sights are on the grits --no way are you going to be able to keep this up till the end of September. I, on the other hand, have planned my strategy to outlast, outplay and outwit my competition. Blackberry grits, here I come!!!

Mamajil said...

Where do you get a site meter????
I would love to know how many hits I get....
You guys need to give me some "blogging" lessons :)

Mrs. Pittman said...

If you girls do get a sitemeter account, make sure not to say ANYTHING about it on your blog. Because then all your comments will be about your 'numbers' and not about the amazing content of THE ACTUAL BLOG POST (which this time, didn't really have much content...but I have a feeling it wouldn't have made much of a difference!)

I have to admit that my son, Hunter, set up my sitemeter - and he didn't take my computer off the lsit, so I still have to subtract the ones I know came from me.

Mary is WAY smarter on all this blog stuff than me. Go to her blog and ask her these difficult questions. Notice all the sidebar and "real time traffic" things she's using. I'm telling you, she's smart enough to rig a contest if she was so inclined.

Mary, did you know the prize was just a bowl of grits with fruit on top vs. stock in a grits company?
(however, you DO get to meet Lea in person!)

Anonymous said...

and meeting me in person is WELL worth the price of admission...

Anonymous said...

and debbie. don't forget to get Hunter or some other wise-beyond-us computer person to get a link to amazon so that you get a monetary benefit from anything we purchase through your site. I'm tellin' ya- it would be worth it, especially if you're going to make it a regular habit of recommending books.

Unknown said...

Leaving a comment so you'll know I did. Left speechless by the comments. Thanks for the humor!