Welcome Back, Me! (or is it, Welcome Me Back!?)

Here's something that sounds like a joke, but definitely is not. Q. How do you know when you've been away from your blog  too long? A. You can't remember your password. AND the donuts in your header have been eaten. Seriously, did you notice they're gone?! What kind of a world do we live in when people can steal donuts from a blog header?! 
(Update: Donuts are back; looking no worse for the vacay. And yes, children, I did just type vacay. I told you I was cool!)
 

But I'm smart. So I figured out my password (I use the same two all the time. Please don't tell the blog thieves.) It's not like I've been vegetating while not blogging. I've been learning stuff. Plus, doing stuff. And helping other people do plenty of stuff, too. (But no vocab stuff, obviously.) And I'll get some more donuts. Geesh.

I'm sick of hearing my excuses for not blogging, so I'm sure you are. But here's the thing (...you knew I was going to give an excuse, didn't you?), I stopped because I started doing some Blog Introspection, which led to some Blog Discouragement.  Not because I read a lot of discouraging blogs; quite the contrary. There are so many great ones. And there are plenty of great blogs that are also willing to tell me how to have my own great blog. 

For awhile there it seemed to me like there was no need for me to blog if I wasn't going to attempt to have a Great Blog....with lots of readers (although I did break 100 followers .... while I wasn't blogging....Go Figure.) .... with advertising...and guest posting...and other people linking to me world-wide. 

I get tired just reading that last sentence. Too much pressure. (Too much work.)

Two things worked together to rouse me from my Blog Slump.  (1) Reading my two daughters' blog updates. See my sidebar for the addresses since I don't know how to link to both of them at once. Granted, they are both amazing girls who could totally have World Wide Blog Popularity if they wanted. But they are simply blogging through life...and I'm so happy they are.  I love reading about their lives - and I honestly think their children are going to look back one day and know their moms in a deeper way because they took the time to chronicle their lives this way. 

Sure wish my mom had had a blog. What books would've been on her sidebar? Which of her friends would she have linked to? Would she have put cute pictures of me on her blog? Pictures of me with a tight perm, that I would have later tried to delete?

It'd be like looking through a scrapbook, with digital running commentary.

(2) The longer you don't blog, the harder it is to get back to it. This is true of anything. Exercise. Bible study. Getting dressed :)   And then the project takes on gargantuan proportions so that one might feel like one would never have time enough to accomplish said project. But recently I came across a time management technique (which I am using this very minute to accomplish this long-procrastinated goal of blogging) called the Pomodoro Technique. 

And I'll tell you about it  next time I blog. Because my pomodoro is up.

But in the meantime, the blog experts say I will never have a successful (by their def.) blog without pictures. But when there are grandchildren, there are pictures :)    Top: GrandMama and Sophie at Christmas. Don't you love her 'camera smile'? Bottom: Newest granddaughter, Eleanor (10 days old today :)

Go read my guest post...Or don't, I'll be fine..

Today I am guest posting at Jonesville.  I was supposed to share some homeschooling wisdom. Go on over and see if you think it's wise. If not, keep it to yourself please. I'm the mother of 7 teens right now and my ego is fragile as I'm daily informed (sometimes, by them...) of how much I have to learn. I would tell you to leave a glowing comment to help my self-worth, but I don't want to sound self-patronizing (and then if you don't....down I plummet.)

This is only the 2nd time I've ever guest posted anywhere, and the first one was for a fashion/beauty blog - NOT my area of expertise. This time I may actually have something worth emulating.

Thank you!  "You is kind, you is smart, you is important." (not good grammar, but a great quote from The Help movie..)

Debbie

P.S. When you see the pictures I sent with my blog, please remember that I don't normally let my big boys dress up like girls. They were recreating (really spoofing, but don't tell Will...) Hamlet. They dared me to put that picture in the post, and I'm all about doing what my children tell me.

Go with me to the homeschooling conference!

My friend Christina, from Jonesville (which I believe is the made-up name of a town, sort of like if I said I was from Pittmansburg...), is hosting her 3rd annual Homeschooling Blogging Conference.  I "met" Christina through my oldest daughter, Brite, and even though I'm most likely old enough to be the grand matriarch of her pretend blog city, she lets me hang out over there.  I'll be guest posting tomorrow - and don't you worry your pretty little heads, I'm more than happy to be your personal secretary, ready to send you right back over there tomorrow so you won't miss anything important.

 And go on over there today to 'register' (sort of like your cyber name-tag) and introduce yourself. And read her first post. She's hilarious and witty in a totally effortless sort of way. So even if you don't homeschool, you'll enjoy reading about her life and times.

Success!

I wasn't going to blog today (shocker!), but I knew some of you might be having some serious laundry-post withdrawal so I put my selfish writer's block (aka laziness) aside to come over here and link to this. jewel.

Of course, my motivation was higher since she said such nice things about me. (Please note the title she gives me. And use it when you speak of me in the future, please.)

I love success stories, don't you? And I'm amazed at how seemingly small things (...and I confess, I was worried when she first emailed me pictures of her too-small-for-my-family laundry bins)
can make all the difference in how we view our daily tasks.

Seeing Kristin's success (almost) spurs me on to continue my Making It All Work series. I've implemented about 2% of the system, but it's transformed my calendar and my to-do list.

More later. (Do I say that a lot?)

P.S. Can I get a witness to Kristin's offer to come clean my shower stalls? Do you think she does tubs, too? (Do you think she remembers I have 7 sons?!)

P.S.S. Kristin is a new blogger - but you'd never know it from the way she writes. And wait until you see her amazing revolving slide show of her gorgeous children. No sinful, coveting, blog envy here. Just the facts.

I think I can....I think I can....

I don't often write posts where my sole purpose is to send you to someone else's blog - but some days you wake to the shocking revelation that another blogger has written something better than you did. So, rather than keeping it to yourself (or sulking...), you must share.


Today my dear friend Anne at Holy Experience .... OK...we're not actually friends.  But I bet we would be. She'd probably really like me.


Or pretend she did.


I imagine her as the type of friend who would hang on every word you said as if she was privileged just to be included in your conversation.


She is the ultimate girl-next-door - cute, perky, God-loving, and with a boatload of talent humbly hiding behind a haystack.   Yep. She lives in Nowheresville, and is married to a farmer. That's most likely why I don't write better. My husband is not a farmer. And there are no haystacks out my windows. How can I be a truly humble, profound writer like Anne with no haystacks out my pie-laden kitchen window? For heaven's sake, my husband wears a suit most days. How am I supposed to overcome obstacles like that?!


Today Anne posted a beautiful weekend post of mainly pictures (Yep....she takes glorious pictures, along with her great writing, hunk-of-a-farmer husband, and cherub-faced farm children.....and Nope, I'm not coveting her life. I couldn't stand it. Literally....I could not stand it. She lives in the frigid north, and my typing fingers are already shaking on this high 50's Florida winter day. Brain freeze would keep me from enjoying my children, my farmer,  my pies, and my thousands of blog followers.)


But, it's not the pictures I'm sending you over there to see. It's the 100 days list. It's brilliant, really.  And not because of the poignant quotes on the simple form, or the way she graciously provided a link to share her idea with the masses.  It's the fact that her form only includes Three Blank Lines for each of the 100 days. She's suggesting we find three things to be consistent on for 100 days. Three new habits. That's all.


Brilliant.  Because it's do-able. (And - at least on my list - does not require a gym.)


I printed the 100 Days List out for myself and for each of my children. We're all praying about our 3 things over the weekend, and then on Monday we'll make them known.


My preliminary list:
(1) Eat a candy bar.
(2) Take a nap.
(3) Ask someone to rub my back.


I realize it needs tweaking, but I don't want to set myself up for failure. Anne would want her good friend, Debbie, to succeed. But wouldn't it be fun to check those babies off each day?


(Serious list coming Monday. Perhaps some Sabbath worship will help me redefine my goals :)


If you decide to work on 3 new habits for 100 days, come on back and tell me about them. I promise not to make (too much) fun of you if they're not as ambitious as mine.

Nobody cares what you had for lunch

That subject line is the title of a book I read recently on blogging.

And she's probably right, not many people would care what I had for lunch (orzo salad from Costco on a bed of spring lettuce - and it was delicious, and I have had it 3 days in a row.....So, maybe someone WOULD care what I had for lunch! But those are the people who have no life, and do I want a bunch of readers like that? ....Sure, if they also leave comments.)

I've read quite a few books on blogging lately. Blogging for Dummies was somewhat helpful. But it's kind of technical - and that's what I have sons for - so it didn't feed the creativity I need to keep my blog in the top million (and I'm being generous to myself with that figure...)

Right now I'm in the middle of The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging, and it's pretty inspiring (if not terribly liberal.)

I've got several blogging books, that I'm sure would catapult me into Blogging Stardom, on my interlibrary loan list. But at the rate at which my library obtains these for me (several have been on the list for more than 6 months) blogging will have gone the way of the pony express.

Blogging for Bliss is one I'm waiting for. But when I go to amazon.com and see what "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" (mostly craft and art books) I get the sinking feeling that book won't be my Ticket to Comment Heaven either. I'm in the post-craft season of my life. Done that/Made that/Used that glue. And I can get some testimonies from ungrateful, department-store- loving relatives to prove it. I once heard an unnamed sister-in-law whisper (but not quite quiet enough....) "The worst thing about home-made gifts is there's no place to return them." But she was wrong, shortly after that comment I saw a perfectly-fine raffia nativity scene at Goodwill that looked remarkably like one of the 20 my daughter and I had stayed up until midnight making the week before Christmas. I'm sure it was a (cruel) coincidence.

Then there's The IT Girl's Guide to Blogging with Moxie, but I'm not sure I am an IT Girl. I'm a homemaker with 11 kids, 5 grandchildren, and a desire to make my life seem funny so I can survive it. Do I sound like the kind of woman who would hang out with a girl named Moxie? Don't think so.

According to the Huffington book, I need to find a purpose for my blog. If you look at my tags, it will be obvious that I have no specific purpose. Am I a decorating blog? That's a niche that seems overcrowded at the moment - and I'd need my husband to up my (non-existent) house furnishing budget if I want to compete with the likes of The Nester (who I love, and who has 937 comments today, ....so far....including mine because I really, really want that memo board for my kitchen.) Go over there today and win something. (Stay here and win nothing. It's your choice.)

I do have some decent decorating posts (see my sidebar). And I have really cute grandchildren. I'm sure blogs about how cute people's grandchildren are get really high ratings.

At one time I thought I might offer motherly wisdom on my blog. I even tried a few question and answer posts. But why would someone come to read what a veteran, experienced mom of 32 years could offer when they can get (untried, rookie, peer, fledgling) advice from younger moms?

So, I'll keep reading my how-to-blog books (and stealing ideas from other blogs.)In the mean time, if you think of something I should write on to make my blog relevant, popular, addictive, and comment-laden - Feel free to send me your ideas. I aim to please (mostly myself...but occasionally the two intersect.)

In the meantime, here's a picture of my adorable grandson in his new, front-facing carseat (purchased for him by {one of this two} favorite GrandMama.)