It's a New Year, It's a New Day...and I'm feeling fine.

With apologies to Nina Simone.

Well, I did it again.  I said I'd be back then I took a hiatus.  Again.  But if you got my newsletter, you'll see that I actually put in my newsletter my resolution to  keep my blog more active.  And if you didn't get my newsletter, NO, you're not off my list, they're still on the computer, waiting to be folded and envelopes addressed and stuffed in with cards that NONE of the kids liked (OK, I'm with them...it's a HORRIBLE card.  Well, except for the hat.  Seriously.  The hat MAKES it.) so hang tight, you will.

I'm not sure why exactly I'm having problems keeping the blog going but I AM going to explore that more deeply in another post.  I think the short answer is Facebook.  Yup.  I'm gonna blame Facebook.  Because Facebook makes it EASY.  I can put out there a one  line status and get IMMEDIATE feedback.  And that's nice.

I have  13 followers (yes, I'll give you a minute to pick yourself up from the floor) on my blog.  YES. That many (and oddly enough, not one is a family member and I'm not sure exactly how to take that).  Of those 13, 11 are different people (two people follow me twice which I happen to LOVE that someone likes me enough to follow me twice).  I also have 322 posts with 24923 page views.  Now I'm gonna get all "mathematical".  I've set up my page such that *I* don't get counted as a page view, but I only did that recently.  So, I'm going to say that I have gone back and looked at each post (and maybe corrected it), 5 times. So, take 1610 page views away and you get 23313 divided by 322 posts is 72 page view per post divided by the 11 (actual) viewers is on average about 6 views per post per person.  You guys ROCK!.

I know, that's not how it works, but I'm going with it because it makes me feel better about stopping and putting a piece of my life, my opinion, my thoughts, my frustration et al out there for your entertainment.  And hopefully it IS entertaining (you're coming back and re-reading FIVE times so I gotta think it has some redeeming value).

I then link the post to Facebook and get your reactions in Facebook postings. {insert strongly voiced opinion that falls slightly short of a rant}   I think those of you who "know" me, know that I was dragged into Facebook kicking and screaming.  I SO did not want to do it but there were circumstances that made it a priority.  And I had to lay some ground rules down for myself.  NO GAMES.  So if you have invited me to join/play games (and initially there were LOTS of invites), well, you've immediately been blocked (just the game stuff).  I know myself too well.  And this is where the onset of my love/hate relationship with Facebook begins but it's grown since I joined. I LOVE that it allows me to reach a larger audience and since I have (shamefully) constant access to Facebook (via phone) I can see those reactions immediately.  What I hate is that the reactions/responses aren't in anyway linked to the blog so I have to be logged into Facebook to see them*.  I guess ultimately, Facebook gets to take and store reactions to something that is not really part of Facebook.  And THAT bugs me.

Bugs me (yes, I said it twice for emphasis).  But I won't let it get the better of me.  I hope I can figure out a way to link those reactions to my blog because someday, I want to print the whole blog out and give it to my kids.  I'm going to call it  "Mom's Guide to Parenting" with heavy acknowledgement to the alcohol industry for their assistance in helping me retain a modicum of my sanity.  And then, when my kids say to me, "why can't I have nice things?" or "I feel like I'm nothing but a bank to my kids", or "how EXACTLY do you make that scrumptious Prime Rib?", I can point them to  "Mom's Guide of Parenting".  They won't always get the answer they want, or even need,  but they'll understand Karma a little bit better. 

Stay tuned folks.  I'll be back soon.  Still feeling fine.

*yeah...I edited that.  After reading it several times even I didn't understand what I was trying to say.  I blame Facebook for that.