Blogging, what is it good for?

I haven't written here in ages, but "Blog" keeps appearing on my to-do lists and goals every year.  But why?  I'm not in it to be an influencer, to make money, or to propagate a movement.  I'm not a writer, I don't really have any advice, and I only rant sporadically, if at all... So why do it?

It's taken me a while to find an answer to this question, and for me that answer is memory.  This blog has been our family history archive since we had Lolly, nearly 8 years ago.  Despite lying fallow for a couple of years now, there is a ton of history in these virtual pages.  And so much of that history is things I never would have otherwise marked or remembered.  Little things.  "Doings."  And that's what attracts me to keep blogging.  It took me a couple of years to work out what was important to me about blogging, and what I missed, exactly, about not blogging.  So I'm setting a goal around writing here again.  I'm pretty sure that one day, looking back, I'm going to be glad I did.

Our family has got a fair bit older since we last talked, my step-son, Smash, is 20 now; Snail is about to turn 17 (!!) and Lolly, the youngest, is nearly 8 (that "nearly" is super important!).  We're a little older and a little wiser, and still plodding along.

Lolly, an Arctic Fox

To anyone still reading this, HI, and I'll be seeing you soon.

What's this? A post...?!

Clearly *checks date stamps* it has been some time since my last blather here on Memo To Self.  Why?  Not sure!  We all fall out of the habit of blogging our lives at some point or another, and this, I am guessing, was one of my points.

Oh, and life got busy and shiz.

So here's post, with random life shots :D

Smash contemplates modes of transport, at the beach.

It has been quite remarkable how many things fell off my wagon since taking on a measly one day of work a week this semester!!  I teach a grand total of 3 contact hours (which is around 8-10 hours a week over the semester in prep, admin and marking), and have promptly stopped exercising and blogging.  I guess that's where I found the time!

Lolly swimming in freezing water on a recent weekend away :D

Well, assignments are back, and I'm on a short break until they have their exam, so I'm suddenly back.

At the movies for the Muppets!

We've had a whirlwind of a time these past 3 months, we've been renovating the house (some more) and plan to have it on the market in the next few weeks.  We've had bad hip news for the Snail, who needs a major hip reconstruction and repair, also in the next few weeks (now THAT sucks).  Lolly is well and truly four, and into all the things four year olds love, which is mostly awesome.  Smash had his school formal (!!) and has been busy with an assortment of grade 12 things, and mindless computering (the latter, probably not to the benefit of his final marks ;)).  I've been on a body transformation journey, and have switched to a paleo/primal mode of eating (not strict, yet!), together with exercise and strength training, and have been remarkably more well, more energy, and have shed 11 kilos I didn't need.  And Nanna and Pop have been away, making us all sad and miss them (no really, we're glad they're having a good time, sort of! xo).

Snail and Lolly have a hug at the ANZAC day parade.

More on all this exciting life stuff in future posts.

I miss you, bloggy interweb friends!  xo

Shitty cat is shitty, but this time with good cause.

A poetic interlude

In posting-absence land.  Where I apparently live now.  Life is a bit sad and happy, up and down, full of small moments of horrible, and little joys. 

So I read this poem, and, not being one for poems in general (a shameful confession, I know), it accidently caught my attention all the way to the end.

So, here it is!

The Summer Day
Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?



from New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA


Indeed....

Blogtoberfest!

I am making another heroic attempt at Blogtoberfest this year, which is a commitment to post once a day for the month of October.  Find the linky here at the fab {tinniegirl}, along with her amazing art!




So here's to seeing a bit more of me this October. Last year I crapped out halfway in a fit of...life, but I post more these days, and reckon I can make it. Looking forward to checking out the other blogs signed up.

No wonderful pics and doings to add, as our bandwidth has been limited til midnight [oh noes!!!], can I just mention that Telstra suck.

That is all.

Cool reads from my feeds

I'm sharing the interwebz lurv today, with some funny and cool stuff I've been reading.

First up, on Doing art with kids, from Parenting. Illustrated with Crappy Pictures.  This pic looks a LOT like Lolly's last art sessions.  And the blog is all round awesome and hilarious [thanks to Rachel from spinnering for putting me onto it!]

© 2011 Amber Dusick

(C) 2011 Lolly

Carl Thompson from Working At Perfect, on Electric Wheelchair Etiquette.

60 [mostly] cool 404 error messages, at Hongkiat.com [many are average, but some are awesome!]

My friend Kestrel made me lol with this on Facebook, from Unhappy Hipsters, Montessori peeps will love it.

No bibliophile or sefl-respecting atheist/agnosic can go past the Amazon reivews of the King James Bible, the LOLZ, they hurt!

For those of you who don't know, this is God's second novel after the Old Testament. It's a marked improvement, in my opinion. He got rid of a lot of his previous angst and scorn, and has really begun to show some of the maturity present in his later works. He's become a much more loving and kind God....

Finally, Stickman Communications' Hannah Ensor is working on a kid's picture book with wheelchair kids in it!  Hooray!

(C) Hannah Ensor via here.

Really? On google search terms

I've seen posts around the traps where bloggers list what seach words find their blogs, now I'm not a huge blogger, or even a big blogger, [or even a medium sized blogger!l] so I don't get a huge amount of search engine hits, but each month I get more and more, and this week there were several hits on my blog via google searches that tickled my fancy...

In addition to the "memo to self" hits, I also had multiple hits from these keywords:

memo to self 8121   [??]
wheelchair kids on bus    [Why?]
octonaut photos   [uh huh]
i know this comes at very short notice    [who googles this?  Whyyyyyyy?]
girl in a wheelchair    [Appropriate?  Creepy?]
funny memo to self    [why thanks, I'm here all week!]
wheelchair kids blog   [okay, but I'm not sure what they're looking for]
starwars meaningless  [NEVER!!]

funny moon road signs  [uh huh]

booba  [perhaps after a breastfeed?]

being a stepmom stinks  [:(]

poking stick  [Awesome!!]

alia's cat named "milk"  [that one is just weird]

I think it's the final two that make me lol the loudest. 

Search keywords are officially weird, and can I mention it's a bit noice to get enough hits these days that I get keywords other than what I know is my Mum on google.  :D

Blogging linky love

Seems ages since I gave a link to anything, here are some gems in my RSS feeds lately:

The fabulous Rachel (and IRL friend), who has the lovely blog spinnering, where she finds gems scattered across the interwebs, has a new gem of her own, a blog about great etsy finds: etsycoup.  Check it out, it's gorgeous!  I love it when people with taste do my shopping for me :D

I am loving the blog, life with a severely disabled child, OMG that woman is hilarious!  You can tell you're gonna like it from her blog header:

It's black humour with awesome coping stylings thrown in.  It's the life with a disabled kid blog I wish I could write!

I enjoy the Montessori inspired One Hook Wonder, not least of which for her witty self description:

I am a mom of 4 living in a small town. Because this can be boring, I'm forced to craft and do Montessori activities with my kids. Oh, and we do some Waldorfy things too. If not for those saving graces, I'd be living a life of crime and mayhem.

If you need Art inspiration, check out The Artful Parent, particularly this summary post of every kind of art you can imagine!  It mostly makes me feel inadequate as a parent, but hey, it's a start that I'm looking at it, right?  ;D

 

Shameful non-posting!

Okay, so I've been a MIA blogger for aaaggggeees!  I dunno what happened there, got busy, tired, and a bit over the online world for a while.  I spent most of my time online feeling like reading instead of writing.

So here we are in a new year, filled with new resolutions :D  So a quick entry to say hi and that there will definitely be more from me soon. 

My camera has been having an unscheduled holiday at my B and SIL's, I left it there after our Boxing Day lunch, so there are lots of photos to catch up with when I get it back Friday.  Trampoline building and bouncing, Christmas fun, renovating madness, gardening!  So...more soon :D

In other news, I'm sorry, but 2011 is just too far in the future for me! lol  We're living in the future, people!  I was born in the 70's for Christ sake!  Makes me feel old, and also wonder where are our flying cars?  I'm sure we were promised flying cars....

Memo to Self...post more in blog!

I have been slack of the arse lately and not been updating here, which is a shame as Lolly has been through a lot of stages lately, both delightful and otherwise (lol).

Here is my commitment to posting more here :-)

And in other news, my cousin got engaged this morning, awwww. Congrats to you, C! And here's hoping we catch up in the new year!