Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
The State of Blogging
The State of Blogging
Ive been reading blogs for a long time. Ive also been writing my own blog for a long time. Weve come to an interesting place as both readers and writers. Readers are starting to lose the blogs that they love. A lot of writers are closing up shop. One recently that I was devastated to lose was Young House Love. They are just one of many.
If you are an avid reader like I am, you may have also started to notice the shift in the way writers are writing. Many have click to tweet buttons that are perfectly formed "bait" sentences that readers can share. Typically they represent the heart of the post. Its a good way for readers to save something they love while also bringing in potential traffic to the blog.
It doesnt necessary bother me when I see it. I mean, its typical that people share a post while extracting a quote from it. This can make it easier for the reader, which as a writer, is good in many ways. I might have a slight eyeroll because I feel like there is a growing trend of writers that are specifically writing in order to.. go viral? Maybe?
I notice it a lot. Im sure weve all experienced the pinterest hooks, where we see an image and we click on it and its crap.
When I started writing, I didnt write to try to build a blog business. Im not a good decorator, I cant build things. While I may be able to help you get on a budget (even though I suck at maintaining my own) or point you in a direction for makeup, I didnt build my blog on either of those things. I didnt build my blog on anything other than... my life.
Its rare that I even share a written post on my personal Facebook. It feels weird. I have many friends on social media that shove their new business ventures down our throats and I dont want to be that person. Also, this isnt how I make my living. I dont need this to support my family so maybe that is where the difference truly lies.
I do know this, there are many bloggers who are still going at it in a way that I respect, for whatever that means. Many of the bloggers I follow do it not because they have to, but because they love writing. They love sharing their lives, their strengths and passions with others. They may not have to do it for the money so the authenticity is there.
Thats important to me. And while we have had some casualties, like Young House Love, there are also some blogs that have grown brighter.
Here are a few bloggers that in my opinion havent lost their voice, even if it has grown and matured over the years. Many blog about their life, only two have a very specific focus (Which Ive noted below).
The Pioneer Woman
Grass Stains
Bye Bye Pie (Warning: Language)
Bower Power
Hollywood Housewife
Thrifty Decor Chick (Home Decor)
Flourish in Progress (Warning: Language)
An Inch of Gray
Graceful Order (Home Organization)
Graceful Order (Home Organization)
Who are your favorite bloggers and have you noticed the same trend I have?
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Sunday, October 16, 2016
My Husband Needs to Take up Blogging
My Husband Needs to Take up Blogging
Every now and again I get a hold of Joels phone and see that hes taken all sorts of cute pictures which were either just not included when I first blogged about something or I never blogged about it at all.
Several weeks ago, the Indiana Bicentennial train was parked in Columbus for a couple days so we took the kiddos to check it out. They both thought it was pretty cool. There were a few tents set up with artifacts and some animals pelts. Lily was SUPER interested in that stuff. She was asking all kinds of questions and wanted to touch all the furs and know what kind of animal they came from. Which was shocking since she normal doesnt like to touch that kind of stuff.
We went to my cousins wedding a several weekends ago. Joel got a couple cute pics of the kiddos. The one in the dark.... thats Tyler standing out with all the single men waiting to catch the garter belt. He stood out there a long time (it took a bit to get people gathered and go through the whole ritual) but eventually realized he was standing there without me and came running back.
One night while watching TV, Lily had piled up the couch cushions and made herself a little chaise. It was pretty cute. Joel tried to get her to pose and it wound up making her look a little awkward....
We had Jacksons 5th (what?!) birthday party a couple weekends. ALL the kids were obsessed with this little electric 4-wheeler. If I heard "My turn!" once, I heard it 345 times. At first, I rode with Tyler because he didnt quite have the hang of the "gas" pedal. But he eventually got it on his own and kind of had everyone on edge. At one point he literally ran over Kenzie (she was unphased) and nearly rear-ended Moms car.
And thats all. For now.
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Saturday, October 15, 2016
The Blogging Death Spiral
The Blogging Death Spiral
Im so far behind blogging about the random events of the past several weeks, its hard to figure out how to pick back up and start again. So Ill just post a bunch of pics with short anecdotes and call it good.
This boy will try so many random things. Here hes eating Baked Tostones (aka, green plantains cut into 3/4" chunks, smashed and baked). Joel and I did not care for this WW adventure recipe, but Tyler ate the crap out of those bland things. He thought they were cookies. Who were we to correct him?
During that same meal, the kiddos were making hilarious faces at each other. Its fun to take a break for a moment from the griping at Lily to eat her supper to enjoy a little bit of silliness.
Recently, Tylers become obsessed with his "soc ball." "Tyler, its soc-CER. Soc-CER." "Yeah, soc ball!" Here is just one example of how these kiddos are....if one has a ball, the other one must also have a ball. Preferably the very same ball that the sibling has, but occasionally, compromise happens and as long as the other ball is similar, peace is restored.
"Flying" is one of our favorite pastimes. "Mommy! Look at me!!! Is my hair crazy??"
Gluing might actually be Lilys favorite activity. Gluing and cutting. (Thats Mr Lamb hanging out there with Lily. He comes from her daycare class and was visiting us for the weekend.)
Im pretty sure I dont know of a single thing cuter than this. Except maybe when he says "thankyouwelcome" all as one word.
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Thursday, September 8, 2016
The flu Thanksgiving and trips out of town have waylaid my blogging efforts
The flu Thanksgiving and trips out of town have waylaid my blogging efforts
Its been a couple long weeks since I last wrote - when I looked at the date of my last blog entry, I was stunned by how long its been. And yet, there really hasnt been lots of noteworthy Hardy news over this time period. At 7 1/2 months, he is still an adolescent and hence, still has those butt head moments. But considering how boring it was for him the week I had the flu, he was actually very well behaved and found generally good things with which to stay busy.
When I felt up to it, I did take Hardy on some short public access trips - we went to Costco a couple times and now, depending on how well hes doing, we are venturing into the food areas. He has also been to Target, Office Max, and World Market recently. He is doing well with these trips but they are still primarily for his benefit and I watch him carefully for appropriate behavior and for any signs of stress or his being overwhelmed.
We attended APDT Rally trials the weekend after Thanksgiving. Laurel got her first Level 2 Championship (RL2X) and her APDT Rally Champion Excellent (ARCHX ) titles, which makes 6 rally or obedience championship titles this year.
In part because it got suddenly cold over the weekend, we put Laurel and Hardy into the same crate in our van; something they handled beautifully. Im not sure that will still work when Hardy reaches full-size but for now, they settle in and snuggle together. Once again, we were thrilled with how well Hardy handled hanging around in his crate at the trials and then coming out to meet people and do some behaviors with me. Hes also starting to appreciate one of Laurels favorite activities - hanging out with us at hotels!
Unfortunately, Brent slammed his back into our kitchen island on Thanksgiving day and although he felt okay through Friday, on Saturday morning, he was absolutely miserable with muscle spasms and radiating pain down his leg. He feels okay as long as he is sitting or laying down but the minute he gets up to do anything, he is just hobbling and hunched over again. This is the worst he has felt in a long time and it is reminding me how much of the physical things he does around the house. He is using Laurel to pick things up for him and do some of the other tasks she does for me. Hardy loves to join in but he is not real consistent ... he might pick the item up but that doesnt mean hes going to bring it to you - not yet.
He is doing very well learning (and now that hes an adolescent, relearning) basic obedience skills and loves his classes - conformation, obedience and agility foundations! I know there are many people who say that dogs cant learn more than one thing at a time (which is the reason many people wont train conformation dogs in obedience - because then they might sit in the breed ring; and why some people wont do obedience with dogs they are training in agility - thinking that the dogs wont want to leave their sides to do obstacles away from them).
I know from my experience with Laurel that she has, in fact, been able to learn exactly what is expected with whatever activity we are doing. When she is "dressed" and out as my full public access service dog, she is very different than she is when we are doing those activities in which she is allowed to "just" be a dog - obedience, rally, agility and now, freestyle. Not only does she know the appropriate behavior when she is "working" and needs to be serious, focused on me and not overly enthusiastic or friendly; but she knows and understands what we are doing when she sees the rally signs, agility equipment, an obedience or a freestyle ring. I truly believe that Laurel is much better able to do her job as my service dog because she does have all these other opportunities to be her energetic, enthusiastic and incredibly friendly-self! Plus, it helps build our relationship - our connection, communication and level of teamwork.
Even at 6 - 7 months, Hardy has been showing the same ability to discriminate what behavior is appropriate when he is dressed and working; when we are doing conformation or obedience or when he sees the agility equipment. And, working together in these different ways is also building our relationship. In our agility class, for instance, we work off-lead and Hardy is learning to work away from me a bit plus, in addition to learning all the jumps and obstacles (with the teeter board on the ground), we are learning how to work together to get from one to another which is all about teamwork.
I include training and competing in various dog sports in my training plans which, I believe, keeps me from getting too serious or focused on the ultimate goal of having a full public access service dog when they are just puppies or service dogs in training . Also, I think that for me, doing the different dog sports gives me opportunities to do fun things with my service dogs as well as continuing to train and be tested as a team.
Im including some of the photos Jack Powers took at the beginning of November below. One change since the photos, however - Hardy is now as big as Laurel!
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