I've Told You a Thousand Times!

Well, today is the big day! I've hinted at it all week!

OK, it is not that big of a day, but it is big enough to me that I feel I should mention it...

It is my 1000th post!

What?! That's crazy! I would never have started out with a plan to write 1,000 posts.  That is like giving myself 1,000 assignments. I'm way too busy to do that! What was I thinking?

When I realized I was nearing my 1000th post I actually felt kind of upset with myself. You see, one of the biggies on my bucket list is to write a book. I've actually got it started but I really don't often work on it. Yet, I find time to write a daily post. Sometimes that takes just a few minutes of my time but often I mess around at it quite awhile. I've also written quite a few posts that I discarded before I actually published them. I told Mike it made me sad that I'd used up so many precious hours on my blog instead of working on my novel. Mike said the nicest thing. He said, "Maybe this is more important."  It was a surprising comment but maybe he is right. It made me try to think of reasons my blogging may be worth the time I've spent on it.

1)  I documented bits of our family's life. I'm not very good at journalling and I do not keep up with our photo albums very well. Maybe this makes up for it a bit?

2) I get to show off photos of our beautiful grandchildren. That may seem pretty self-serving, but those girls have other relatives who live out of town and I know a couple of them look for those photos nearly every day.

3) Maybe someone read one of my efforts to inform regarding medical conditions. Perhaps someone I don't even know, after reading my blog, decided to get a life-saving colonoscopy. Maybe that didn't happen but maybe it did.

4) I've made new friends through my blog. Really! It takes the whole penpal idea to an entirely new level. 

5) It makes me exercise my brain a bit. Sometimes (often) I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to post about but I just start messing around and something comes out. At other times I see or hear something that makes me start mentally writing future blogs.

6) I've become much more interested in taking photographs. That leads me to seeing more beauty in my day. Really. I find myself "framing" visions as though I would photograph them, even when I don't have a camera with me.

7) The most important thing I try to do with my blog is to share my faith. I realize a lot of religions are not about evangelizing but Christianity is very much about sharing. When you are a part of something that brings such order and peace in the midst of such a chaotic world, why wouldn't you want to share it?

8) I look busy when I am writing a post. It gets me out of housework for a bit.

I don't write this blog because my life is so fascinating. I am fortunate enough to lead a pretty calm life. Many people have more interesting things happening in their lives. Many have deeper thoughts or more entertaining ways of expressing their ideas. I know this. I'm grateful, though, that blogging is available to all of us. All you need is internet access.  Oh, that just made me think of important reason #9!

9) I can encourage others to blog! You don't have to do it every day and you don't even have to tell anyone about it. If interested, just go to blogger.com and follow the instructions to get started.

You, too, could have many mornings that start like this...

See what I did there? I shared my faith with a photograph. 

It seems weird to stop with 9 reasons so let me think of a 10th....thinking...thinking... oh yeah!

10) It is fun!

So, to celebrate, I will do a little more of #2 before I close and get on with my day.  Enjoy!

What Kind of Blog is This, Anyway?!

Admit it, that question crossed your mind, didn't it?

Perhaps you first came upon my blog when you were looking for a quick but delicious cookie recipe. The next time you stopped by you maybe happened upon one of my Movie Reviews.

Sometimes I'm talking about matters of faith or even featuring one of my husband's sermons,  but the next thing you know I'm telling you to get a colonoscopy.  I may be confessing dumb things or doing the world's worst tutorial. I've posted on things from birth to death. I post everyday but you really can't count on a particular theme from me on any given day.

When I look around at other blogs I find some that have cooking themes, some devoted totally to crocheting, others that are all about spirituality. There are people who seem to have an endless supply of tutorials, recipes, etc. I follow some of those blogs. They are kind of cool. Mine, though, just isn't like that.

For awhile, I worried about this. I thought I should pick a theme and go with it. I never settled into it, though. I just kept flitting around from topic to topic. When people ask me what my blog is about, I don't really know what to say.

I guess my blog is just about life. Sometimes life is routine, sometimes it is extraordinary. Sometimes the routine IS extraordinary.  Those are the best days!

The Show Must Go On!

There are times when a blogger, such as myself, messes around too long and suddenly discovers they have run out of time to do a proper daily post.  At such times as these said blogger has a few options.

1. Just skip it and hope no one notices.
2. Rerun a post from the archives.
3. Show photos of  cute little granddaughters.

Comments About Commenting

I want to address a problem some people have been having with my blog.  For some reason, there are people who can't leave comments for us all to read.  A few have told me that was the case for them even before I changed formats.  I've double-checked and I have it set up for anyone to comment so I'm not sure where that glitch is occurring.  However, I do know that a few may be having trouble figuring out how to comment since I switched formats.  I know this because I had trouble figuring out how to comment back!

So, here's the deal...

Of course you first have to click on one of the little windows to read a post.  I've noticed that sometimes it takes a try or two to get it to open up.  I don't know why.

Once a post is opened, it looks like this...

Do you see the little slide bar on the right side?

Use that to go to the bottom of the post.  Now you can see where to click to view comments.

The trouble is, when you click that it seems that nothing happens.  I expected to see comments at that point. Finally, I noticed that when I clicked "view comments" that little skinny slide bar moved upward.

I then had an ah-ha moment.  If you just slide that little bar down again, you can see the comments as well as add one of your own. 

Again, I am aware that it isn't working for everyone.  So, if that doesn't work, you may send a comment to my e-mail (onlythemanager@yahoo.com) and I will add it for you.  I know, that's a lot of trouble.  I will also keep trying to figure out the problem.  Until I do, though, I hate to miss the interaction!

Ok, that's all the comments I have about commenting.  

Any comments?

One last thing... if you are someone who has never blogged but would like to, check out this link.  It is easy to get started!  (This means YOU, Michelle!)