Three years ago, after over a decade of blogging, I had lost all my spark for writing on my blog. I had recently moved to Michigan (again), was figuring out where I was careerwise, and had felt disillusioned by the emotional temperature of the blogging world. Although I wasn’t targeted in the same ways as other bloggers, there was definitely snark being written and discussed online about me. It really felt like I had said what I needed to say at that point, and I had no desire to continue the website, other than to keep up my archives.
Last Wednesday, I gave a lunch and learn session on Google Analytics for the Social Media Association of Michigan. As part of the presentation, I pulled up my Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts to show people how to get around the platforms. Two things became very apparent to me.
1) If I’m going to be speaking about Google Analytics and Search Console, I need to have accounts that I’m not embarrassed to show the metrics on. That means I need to be fixing site errors and blogging more often.
2) The post I wrote about surviving my adult tonsillectomy was bringing about 70% of my site visitors. It’s a gritty, gross, detailed post about how bad it was to recover from getting my tonsils out. This got me thinking that maybe I don’t need to worry so much about concealing the tough and gritty parts of my life.
I used to write a lot about hard stuff…depression and anxiety, morbid obesity, chronic illness, financial concerns, and the struggles of living in a commuter marriage. And while my life wasn’t a perfect and shiny, it was true to who I was, and I received a therapeutic effect from writing about it. So I’ve decided it’s time to update my blog more often, and not worry so much about what people think about what I write about.
Despite dealing with some ongoing chronic health flare-ups, life is pretty dang great right now. My husband’s career trajectory is fantastic, I’m getting a lot of fulfillment professionally, and Rosie is growing up into a talented and cultured young woman. Time, career advancement, and frugality has allowed us to knock out a significant amount of debt this year, as well as purchase a cozy mid-century bungalow in Royal Oak, MI. See how cute it is?
I chose to show a picture of the house last spring, when everything was green and beautiful. Right now it’s 15 degrees in March, everything is dead and gray, and I’m counting the weeks until Michigan becomes a verdant, magically green wonderland.
Having a home with adequate space, with places to store all my things, and a newly-remodeled lovely kitchen has gotten me revved up to do something I’ve disliked for ages…cooking. Between experimenting with my Instant Pot and trying to eat more nutrient-dense foods (to overcome some vitamin and mineral deficiencies), I’ve spent more time in the cooking and preparing food in the kitchen in the past month than I have in the last year.
Despite all of the recipes I have tried, my current obsession is making berry cobbler. My favorite combo is blueberry, strawberry, and pear, with lime juice. I’ve been picking up fresh fruit from Eastern Market almost every Saturday. I wash and slice things up, boil the fruit in water and sugar, and then set to simmer and reduce it down to a syrup. I make the crumb topping with a yellow cake mix and butter, bake it, and it’s so tasty.
Parenting my amazing daughter through teenager-hood has been somewhat challenging, but more enjoyable than I expected. I love the woman Rosie is growing up into, and she is my best friend. I love the moment of feeling flattered when somebody tells me that they think that Rosie is my sister, not my daughter. Between mutually obsessing about Hamilton, musical theater, geeky stuff, travel, and good food, she has a lot of interests and skills that are unique to her. I’m anxious for her to get her drivers licence, so I’m not stuck driving her around for all of her school, drama rehearsals, choir performances, church activities, and ballroom dance classes. It’s crazy to think that she is only 2 years away from graduating from high school.
So that’s life for me these days. I’m not going to wait quite so long before I write up my next life update. 🙂
We debated over a real vs artificial Christmas tree this year. I was set on getting a real tree…until I went shopping for a real tree. I don’t consider myself OCD at all, but I started getting frustrated at the “fresh” trees I saw in tree lots. Most were severely asymmetrical and patchy, and really didn’t look very pretty. The ones that were full and looked nice had very sharp needles. Four lots later, I gave in to Taylor’s pleadings and got an artificial tree. As a consolation, we bought a lovely fresh fir wreath. With the tree set up, full of lights and ornaments, this alone has helped our house feel like a home.
