Friday, August 30, 2013

Re-focused (#7QT)




After taking a month-long blogging break for our move, I'm coming back to blogging with a completely different mindset.  In some ways, I had been feeling that my blog was controlling me more than I was controlling my blog.  I was, quite honestly, burned out and my writing showed that.  After a month off, I realized that I liked the idea of only blogging three days a week.  (Or maybe not at all.)

I've been joining the Blog Planning Boot Camp put on by Howtheyblog.com this week and doing so made me realize that my blog has lost it's purpose and focus.  This blog has evolved quite a bit over time, but at the core, my intent is the same as it always was: to create a place for women to find encouragement from like-minded women.  Originally, I focused on other newlyweds and now my focus is more on marriage and motherhood, but the idea is the same.  At times in our lives, we can find ourselves isolated and lonely.  Wondering if we're doing things right.  Sensing (or maybe just hoping) that other women must be feeling like we do but not knowing who or how to approach the topics.  And just thinking about that focus, that intention has invigorated my desire to write and my love for the blogging community.


I wrote a new tagline for the blog to summarize my new focus: "A place to share the joys and embrace the challenges of marriage, children, and Catholic womanhood." Do you think this is a good representative of what I have been writing about?  Does it describe what you'd like to see me write about?  I want to be clear that everyone is welcome here, you need not be married, or a mother, or Catholic, or even a woman.  But that's who I am, and those are the things that are important to me and that I know, so they are the things I write on.  We live in a culture that is in many ways anti-marriage, anti-children, anti-faith, and anti-woman and in my life offline, as well as here, I love to share with others just how false society's views of these things are.  There is so much joy to be had from marriage, parenting, womanhood, and religion, and while they come with challenges and difficulties, don't all endeavers worth doing? 


Many bloggers struggle with finding a balance between blogging and other obligations (family, work, other projects).  And yet others have found that balance, and I think I know how.  Through passion and direction.  Writing becomes much easier if I have a plan and a purpose.  I feel like now I can sit at my computer, immerse myself in writing a blog post our two, really pour my soul into it, then when I'm done I can leave and devote myself with just as much passion (are you kidding?  MORE) to my husband and daughter and my other pursuits.  Plus, three good, solid content posts a week is better than seven days of boring life updates and streams of conscious. 


While on the topic of passion, I must share with you how much David adores his job.  And how happy that makes me.  After a year-long job search, then what seemed like a million mile move BACK to where we lived a year prior, it's wonderful to know that all was not for naught.  David went into this job thinking of it as a career move and it seems that it is.  Praise the Lord!


I love reading about faithful, life affirming athletes and celebrities.  I was blown away by this interview with White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers.  Here's a little snippet of the goodness:
Another way that Mary has led me closer to her son is through the sacrament of reconciliation. I appreciate it a great deal because of the relief it can bring to your soul as soon as you finish. The dead weight of sin is lifted off your shoulders, and you experience the great love and refreshment this brings. You’re freed to live as a child of God because the grace to do this is imparted to you.
St. Augustine said it is a greater work to make a just man out of a sinner than to create heaven and earth. This is amazingly accomplished by Jesus when you go to reconciliation, and I’d strongly encourage those who haven’t experienced this in a while to do so this week. Get back to Jesus and get renewed in his grace.
It was so difficult for me to choose a quote from the interview because it is so, so quotable.  He not only talks about his faith, his and his wife's difficulty conceiving, and his devotion to the Blessed Mother, he goes deep into theology and the relationship between Mother and Son.  Now this is an athlete that makes a great role model for our children!



How do toddler parents get ANYTHING done?  Lulu is what one might call "high needs" right now, but I don't think she's more than other 20 month olds.  She's just so busy and so into everything.  Curious, you might say.  I'm chasing her around and cleaning up after her messes and playing with her and I call it a good day if I do a half load of laundry (either the putting in the washer portion or the hanging up portion) between waking up in the morning and nap time.


Don't you just love this dress?  I looks like something I might have worn (or my mom).  Timeless!

How do you decide which pictures to hang in your house?  Between engagement, wedding, maternity, newborn, milestone, and now anniversary pictures, we have a ton of pictures that we love and limited wall space.  I found a great deal on a 16x20 photo canvas for only $26 (only $20.80 with code "AugBest20" plus $4.95 shipping) and ordered picture #4 from our wedding re-do photo shoot.  I see these deals come up from time to time (although not usually quite that amazing of a deal) but I just get so flustered having to choose which pictures to get printed that I never get any.  Obviously, I can't have the 10 pictures I love from each shoot, so how would you narrow it down?  

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!




16 comments:

  1. As a new blogger who is trying to find balance I really appreciated this post. I am planning to post two or three times a week. It's all I can manage. I work full time and have a direct sales Business too. I have seen a lot of bloggers posting 5 to 7 days a week and have been wondering how on earth they do it! Thanks for making me feel better about my decision! PS.. You new tagline is perfect!

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    1. Thanks, Amanda! I have blogged while working part-time, but never full-time. I don't know if I could maintain it!

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  2. I also have a problem finding the focus of my blog. But instead of posting a lot, I go the other way and don't post as often as I'd like. I find it hard to keep up with blogs that post daily, so I'm kinda glad you're scaling back :)

    I'm so glad your husband loves his job. Mine hates his, and it definitely affects our home life in a negative way.

    As for the pictures, that's why I love gallery walls! We also have a picture carousel thing that has spaces for 20 pictures or so and just goes on a shelf. I'm thinking of getting a digital photo frame if I can find one on a good sale (they've been out for a while, so they should be cheap by now, right?). An entryway or a hallway is a good place to do a gallery wall with lots of pictures. Also, collage frames.

    And if this comment wasn't long enough, I'll just add that Cora loves those pictures of Lucia and keeps pointing to them :)

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    1. Sorry about your husband's job. I know how difficult that can be. We're planning to make a gallery wall as you go upstairs but there justare too many pictures for that even!

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  3. Love your new tagline! When our littlest was 20 months, he was into everything. I used a playpen, and he adored it. It gave him his own space, he was safe and secure, and he could pick which toys were going into it with him. And then I could get things done--within sight of him, but not having to chase him in circles. We used it just for limited periods of time, but it worked really well for him. The only challenge was his big brother was jealous and wanted playpen time too, so we had to work that out. I know some people are opposed to playpens, but our little one had been living in an orphanage and there were so many dangers to him everywhere--and he was into everything! It helped keep us all more relaxed and gave him a sense of security.

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    1. We do have a playpen but we've never used it for anything but sleep. Perhaps I should give it a try (although I have a feeling she won't like it).

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  4. Lulu's frog outfit!! Adorable! I can definitely identify with feeling burned out by blogging after a bunch of similar life changes to yours this summer, and I imagine when our baby arrives, I'll feel similarly. I think your attitude of writing as much as it fulfills you, and no more, seems like a good solution. It can be hard for me, and others, I imagine, to just be free and not worry about expectations...your tagline seems like a perfect fit =) Enjoy your weekend!

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    1. Thanks, Stephanie. After Lucia was born, I didn't find it difficult to write because I had so many new thing to write about and she slept a lot! But changed affect everyone differently.

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  5. Found you over at Jen's. I love that you have a Lulu - that is my mom's name. :) And I am with you on the photo dilemna - I just printed my first newborn photo and baby girl is already 7 weeks old.

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    1. Glad you have to here! We took monthly pictures of Lucia (at places like Sears - the cheap packages) for her first year of life so we have SO MANY PICTURES! Most will just be going into an album though.

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  6. 20 months is a HARD age, especially with the first child - they're not old enough to entertain themselves for long, and they don't have anyone else around to entertain them... I found that stage a LOT easier with Cecilia than with John Paul, partially because she was already used to entertaining herself because I had been pregnant and lying on the couch for so long, but mostly because she had John Paul around to keep her company and wasn't reliant on me for her sole form of entertainment!

    That said, that's an age when I try to start allowing them to help me (or "help" me) with chores - they can load/unload utensils or plastic dishes in the dishwasher, "clean" countertops or tabletops (with a spray bottle of vinegar and a washcloth), help set the table, help load/unload the washer and dryer... I find that if I can dedicate 15-30 minutes of solid time where I'm actually engaged with the kids and not just trying to keep them out of my hair, they've gotten their fill and are happy to play independently. But I think independent play is a skill that needs to be taught and encouraged, especially at that age!

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    1. Yes, I definitely get it being easier with more than one. I watch little ones two days a week. One day is it a 10 month old and one day a 2.5 year old and for the most part I actually find those days refreshing since there is less hands-on time for me.

      Lucia does "help" somewhat. At this point, it is more work for me to help her help, but I know it will get easier.

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  7. Those blogging classes sound really interesting!! I really like the summary of your new game plan, be sure to share what you learn :)

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    1. Patty, they are free and simply done in the form of short (10 min or less) videos and a little "homework" each day for a week. I'm sure you can catch up on the last several days (I'm actually a few days behind myself). Just go to howtheyblog.com's facebook page and you can find the videos/assignments there.

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  8. I love your focus. I was just talking on my own blog this week about how I don't fit into any one 'niche' of blogs. But I think I'm becoming okay with that. I will check out the link to the workshop you mentioned. It'll probably be good for me.

    I also wrote about confession this week, as did Simcha. I think it must be on people's minds. Love the quote.

    And your baby Lulu is adorbs!

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    1. The workshop is really just a short video and some homework each day - you can just go back to the beginning and catch up.

      I used to be fine with not having a niche too, but I've started to get really restless about it!

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