Category: blog

Everyone does it once in awhile, right? So here are my thoughts on the state of the blog currently:

I don’t intend to be a professional blogger because I already have a career that I’m passionate about. At the same time, blogging is one of my most rewarding and favorite hobbies. It provides an excellent record of my life, has helped me meet friends, keeps my family updated, gives me a sounding board, and is a creative outlet. Although I don’t have the time to spend on it to produce content like professional bloggers do, I still want to do it well – and I think I can do better than I am right now.

You guys, I have so many ideas. So many. But I also have other interests, and a child that needs constant supervision and has a late bedtime and doesn’t nap. For example, this past week I meant to post three times and I had ideas and partial posts written. But work got crazy and I ended up working late all week and coming home exhausted and it didn’t get done.

So I’m obviously limited in the effort I can put toward my blog, but I’m a big believer in the idea that more is possible than seems to be. When I first started back to work after having a baby I was overwhelmed with the prospect of taking care of my family, working, and also keeping up with housework. So what I did was just take a little time to assess the situation, figure out what needed to be done, how often, and I put a routine in place. Now it’s all second nature, and even though it still takes a little time and effort, it’s part of the rhythm of our lives and things don’t get forgotten. I used to not wash my sheets for months at a time, and now they get washed every single week. (I am actually proud of this fact. Sad.)

I know that I can apply this same process to my hobbies. These days if I don’t plan for them, they don’t happen. So what I’m going to do is take a break from posting and instead focus my energy on the back end of things. I’m not setting any boundaries or goals for this step, so that means I can post if I want to but I’m going to take it off my to-do list. I also don’t know how long it will take me to get things ready to go so I’m not even going to mention time frames.

Here is what I hope to accomplish:

>Figure out what direction to take the blog: what its purpose is, what kinds of posts I want to feature, who my audience is, etc.
>Redesign the blog itself. It’s a reflection of me and I’m evolving so it should too. (I will probably end up doing this myself with a little help from my brother-in-law so it’s going to be simple. But I’m simple, so that’s good.)
>Organize my categories.
>Rewrite my “about” page.
>Write and have ready to publish 2-4 weeks’ worth of material, and get some recurring features ready to go.
>Figure out the best way to incorporate blogging into my life (i.e. how will it actually get done?), set up a routine, and put it into place. This is probably the most important thing!

So that’s the plan. In the meantime, keep up with me (um, when I have time) on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. And tell me – how do you plan for your hobbies, and what’s your blogging philosophy? No really – I want to know.

Due to extenuating circumstances, we don’t have an Internet connection at our house right now other than 3G on our phones. Turns out it’s not all that fast around these parts, either. We haven’t had it in a couple of weeks, and although we’ll be getting it hooked up again, I’m not sure when that will be. Hopefully before the month is out, but maybe not.

I hadn’t planned to take a break from my blog, but it’s becoming more difficult to keep up with. I don’t want my family to think my visits are only for the wifi, after all, so it might be quiet around here until we’re connected again. Not that I think anyone would even particularly notice, but I still feel the urge to say it.

But when we’re up and running again, get ready. Because I have books to discuss, Project Life spreads to share, challenges to start, and there’s the small milestone of Meredith turning one.

Be back soon.

Today I said goodbye to my faithful old computer, seen above. It’s lasted me six years and is still chugging along. It got me through nursing school and made it through at least one crashed hard drive. But as you can see, it’s seen better days. That huge black gash in the screen is actually a bend that has gotten bigger over time, and I have been dealing with it for a year.

I have been saving up for over a year for a new computer, and now I’m writing you from my brand new MacBook Pro. It’s wonderful to be able to see everything on the screen. Who knew? I’m really proud because this is delayed gratification at its finest. I could have bought this computer on credit long ago, but I was determined to pay in cash and I did it. I can enjoy my purchase without guilt because I know we can afford it. Yay!

I’ve also started the process of a blog redesign. My brother is a web designer, and he recently quit his job to go freelance, so he actually has time to do this for me now. Although, I still have no idea how long it will take him.

In non-techie news, I was feeling kind of down today and I didn’t know why. So I made a list of all the things I wasn’t content with in my life. They aren’t major, but there’s a lot of little things that I want to work on. I’ll probably be talking about them more soon. Thankfully the list doesn’t include my marriage, family, friends, or church. And one thing I’ve already taken action on – I pumped up the tires of the jogging stroller AND my bike, so exercise begins this week!