Last night I was so tired that I took the laptop to bed with me so I could catch up on some shows and fell asleep with it in the bed about 15 minutes after I laid down, an unprecedented event for me. The good news is that my insomnia appears to be backing off a little bit, but I don’t know if it’s due to something I’m taking or if it’s actually improving. I’ve also managed not to cry in front of anyone for about a week now…though that may have more to do with the fact that I haven’t spent a lot of time around my friends who’ve gotten the brunt of it over the last couple of months. (And I wonder why nobody ever invites me to do things…soggy weepy messes are really not much fun, are they?)

So yeah, I’m just trying to keep up with life for right now. There’s much I want to talk about: bullying, my oldest son’s 8th birthday, depression, and more. Unfortunately it will all have to wait like everything else in my life at the moment. Maybe next week…except by then I’ll have more to talk about (including *my* birthday!) and I’ll forget all about the stuff I wanted to say. And maybe that’s a good thing!

(FYI: If you hadn’t been able to comment, you may be able to with the new theme. Give it a try!)

Share/Bookmark

• I added Gravatars a while ago, but never mentioned it. If you want a picture next to your comment here (and on many other sites!) go to http://en.gravatar.com/ and set up your own gravatar. Then comment on this post so I can see your pretty face!
• Another option to get your own pic next to your comment is with my new Facebook Connect option. Look over there to the left. See the “Login with Facebook” button? When you click it the first time, you’ll get a notice asking you to authorize the app. It will tell you this gives me access to all kinds of personal info. This is not true as far as I can tell. I will have access to your Facebook name and anything else that is already public, including your profile photo. I don’t even get your email address because that’s the way I set it up. A friend has already commented through the Facebook Connect program and if you’re curious, you can see the information shared that way. Scroll down to either of the last two posts and view Sheryl’s comments. What you can see is all I can see. (And thanks Sheryl for testing this out for me!)
• CommentLuv is another plugin I added a while back. Basically, if you put a site name into the box when commenting, it will look up your blog and provide a link to your last post in your comment. (You can see examples of this in my comments.) I love this, because it allows me to check out other blogs.
• Now, you can “Like” my posts via Facebook. From what I can tell, these “Likes” don’t publish to your feed, but they do show up on your page. There will also be a running count of people who like it at the bottom of each post, though your name will not be shared to anyone who is not your Facebook friend, including me. Want to let me know you enjoyed the post but don’t have the time (or 2 hands) to type out a comment? There you go!
• You can also now share posts by clicking on the icons just below the “Like” button. Post to Facebook, Twitter, email it, and more. If you think I said something worth telling other people about, this makes it really easy to do so!

So try them out on this post. Comment (click on the link in the right hand column ————>) and let me know how it worked or if you had anyproblems or if any of the information I gave (especially re: privacy) is incorrect. If you want to see how these work, check out the comments on this post to see some examples. I’ll try to have examples of each!

One caveat — if you choose to connect via Facebook, I don’t think that CommentLuv works and I know that Gravatars don’t work because it uses your Facebook profile picture. Other than that, they should all work separately to make interacting with this blog a bit easier. Cool, right?

Share/Bookmark

And speaking of Facebook, I am trying to decide whether or not to make a Facebook page for my blog. I’m seeing more and more people out there who have done this and I have to wonder what the benefits are. I’d probably get more comments, right? I mean, if you’re on Facebook it’s super easy to just comment on a post…moreso than it is here. I’m at a point where I really need encouragement and to get no comments at all on many of my posts is hard. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is even out there reading! And then I wonder if I really want anyone reading…

So what say you? Would that be a great way of connecting/interacting? If you blog, do you have a FB page? Have you seen any benefits to it? Drawbacks? Let me know by clicking on the comment link in the right hand column. —————————->

To comment, you must provide a name (first name only is fine), an email address to prove you’re legit (I promise I won’t post it, share it, or use it inappropriately), and you need to enter an anti-spam word. Easy peasy!

Share/Bookmark

So I’m left with the question of what this space is going to be.  Recipes?  Stories about my kids?  Money saving tips?  I never wanted to be a generic “mommy blogger” but I feel like that’s kind the direction I’m headed.  And to be honest, I’m so short on time these days that it sometimes feels like a chore just to get over here and try to write something…because those highs and lows are usually the impetus to come and post.  To get out my stress, to get out my excitement, to let go of the feelings that are keeping me up at night or bouncing around in my head and preventing me from concentrating on my homework or the article I need to write.  Unfortunately, this blog can’t be my therapy any more.  I’m sad about that, but I feel freed in simply making this decision.

Bear with me as I try to straighten it all out and figure out where I’m going.  Not only with this blog, but also in life.  There are good things happening that spell success for me in a place I never expected to be.  Real estate is picking up and that means good things for us financially (I hope!) so I am seeing the sun coming up on what has been a very dark time for my family.  Everything is still in the maybe stage, but there are a lot more maybes out there than nos (noes?) right now.  I am very optimistic about that aspect of life!

So let’s head down this new road and see where it goes.  I really hope you’ll join me on the journey!

Share/Bookmark

I changed the About Me page.  My new picture is there (Thanks to Laura at Somethin’ Blue for the great portrait!) and I updated some information.  I have some other things I’d like to add to that page but it will have to wait.

I’ve also added a Links page.  My blogroll is destined for that page, but I haven’t had the time to do it just yet.  For now, leave a comment if you have a blog you’d like to add to it.  I’m always looking for new ones to read!

My life is all about changes lately, so I felt like reflecting that here, too.  I suppose change is inevitable, but I really wish I could slow it down for just a little while.  The kids are growing up too fast and I feel like I can’t do anything but watch helplessly.  At least I still have control over what happens here!

Share/Bookmark