Learning HTML

I know how to do this now. Jay taught did it for me.

can't have one without the other

My camera is broken.
And apparently I need to practice writing without photos.
It is kind of like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Who wants just a peanut butter sandwich? Or just a jelly sandwich?
I just find it hard to write without the photos.
Because I have no camera ...
I have not written about the gigantic box and all the packing peanuts that kept Luke and Tucker busy for hours.
Or about how that same box and packing peanuts kept Luke (and me!) busy cleaning it up.
Or about the fantastic be-lated birthday/early-Christmas present that was inside that gigantic box.
Or about how much I love this present and want to display it now.
Or about Jack and how he won a ribbon for most original pet in the pet parade. (apparently there is a plus side to only owning fish!)
Or how Jack dressed up as Paul Revere for a book report and then used the same costume for a party that night.
Or how Jay so wonderfully and creatively spent an evening in making Jack a musket to go with the Paul Revere costume.
Or how wonderful it is to have light in my kitchen, and how I feel like I am in the spotlight on my own stage.
Or all the things we have been doing for red ribbon week at school.
Or my SPT's.
I guess I could always go back and write about what I do have photos of. Like Disneyland. You know that was 5 months ago. I could write about that. I should write about that.
Hmmm- my mind is now thinking of all the photos that don't have their story told. Oh-my.

why I blog

I often wonder what I would have to read if I had been a part of the blogging world when our oldest two were little. I do have some scrapbook pages of the cute things that occurred on a daily basis, but honestly I think I have more photos now of the kids doing things than I took then.

I wonder about what I would read about Savanna and Jack- right now a lot of my writing stems from things that Luke or Tucker has done. They occupy so much of my day-
I wonder if I would be able to look back and compare the behavior between the children- and laugh.

I do have paper journal entries, of when they were little but they are few and far between.
Something about having the computer to type it up. I have several posts in the works but not posted. They have stories written to share with my family. I have posts started with just an idea to jog my memory.
I easily can load the photos I have with the stories. It is not the hands on creative process like scrapbooking, but it certainly is documenting my life.

I started blogging to get things about my life written down.
I wanted to write my stories. I wanted to be a better story teller.
I wanted to also be able to share thoughts and feelings with others.
I wanted my family and extended family to be able to just check in and see what our family was up to.
I wanted to be able to share with all of my friends who I do not live close to anymore.
I wanted to write. I wanted to share my beliefs.

So I started blogging. Slowly at first. Sporadic. And over the last 1 1/2 years I have increased.
Really mostly this last year.
I am grateful for the things I have typed and posted.
My emotions and feelings.
Our trips this summer.

A funny thing happened though. We added google analytics for my blog.
It tracks what states/countries people are coming from.
How often they come, what city they live in, the referring site.
How long they stay on my blog, what pages they look at.
It was fun to look and see how many people had read my blog.
But then I started to compare the numbers.
I would look at the comments and compare how many people had actually read my blog.
The numbers did not match up.
Not even close.

I started to feel insecure about my blog.
Why were so many people reading but not commenting.
Did people not have anything good to say?

And then I started thinking about my own blogging habits.
There is no way for me to comment on every single post I read.
I use Google Reader to help me keep track of all the blogs I frequent.
There is absolutley no way I can comment on every single blog, and still read.
And keep up with my life.
And still blog my own story.

I try and comment on my friends blogs.
When I read a blog post that inspires, or touches me, or makes me think, I try and leave a comment. Sometimes I will go back days, or weeks later after I have thought about what someone has written and tell them that they have touched me in someway.
But for the most part I don't comment on every post I read. Do others think the same thing?
Do they wonder why they are getting hits from my part of the world, but no comment.

Then I started thinking again about why I started blogging.
Was it to make more friends?
Was it to keep myself busy?
Was it to add one more thing to my already overwhelming life?
Was it to get commentary from others?

No to all the above, although I can say it has added all of the above to my life.
The primary reason I started blogging was for me.
To write my story, with my family.
To share what I have. Without any hope of anything in return.

So there you go- all you blog readers. I forgive you for not commening.
You are off the hook- I will not obsess about why you are not commenting.
(can you hear me laughing light-heartedly at that?)
I have had my mental meeting with myself and I am fine to just keep writing.

I will tell my story.