Naturally Optimistic

I miss blogging. And my blogging community. *sigh*

Oh boy - it's been a while. I've been thinking about reviving this format for quite some time. And I haven't really been successful in the past, but maybe it's a good time to make a change. A new season arrived (early) the other day (ugh winter - TOO SOON!) and a new month is right around the corner. A friend of mine let me know she is deactivating Facebook in the coming days. I think it's a great idea. I think I should do it. I'm sick of it but I am afraid I will NEVER EVER KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN EVERYONE'S LIVES or see cute pictures of their craft projects or get new recipe ideas or or or or or or.... It's stupid. I feel like a damn addict. I don't NEED Facebook. Facebook has just made me FEEL like I need it and for that I hate it. So should I take a break? Will I be happier (probably)? Will I miss seeing my friends/family/etc's posts? Can I just cut back? Or does it have to be cold turkey? Would I feel better if I posted here more oft...

Yep - I failed. I made it 10 days. Oh well. I kind of feel like I'm blogging in a vacuum or void or something so I know that the only real person I've disappointed is myself. Ah well. I"m going to try to continue blogging more. I really enjoy it as a journal of my own life, if not for connecting with others. So, onward.

Day one of NaBloPoMo - we'll see how I do this year! Hopefully I will be inspired & committed to posting each day in November. It's always hard but let's do it! DPL Main Library Staff Halloween was a lot of fun and a lot of hectic too. Work was good. A lot of us dressed up - especially from Circulation which is always a good time. I was pretty lazy with my costume this year. I couldn't get inspired. I ended up buying a bright orange wig & thought maybe I'd be a scarecrow, but ended up being some kind of "good witch" instead. It worked okay. ;) Me, dorky as usual Farmer Jess I left work a bit easy to get the kids "early" so we could attempt to eat & get our pumpkins out before going trick-or-treating. It's always such a hectic mess. Trying to get two hyper kids to cooperate sometimes is like herding cats. Spiderman & Mike Wazowski Our friends Tomas & Angie headed over with their son M...

Okay...it's been almost a year and that is quite frankly, just kind of sad. SO....I'm going to *try* to get back into the blogging thing. A lot has happened since last time I posted (vacations, ceiling collapses, children 'graduating' from Kindergarten and becoming "big kids;" being back on stage in one of my bucket list shows; starting my own business ( Norwex !); having a home invasion (not cool), serving on a jury for a criminal case & I'm going to be blogging about a new project coming up! I'm so excited! I've adjusted the settings back to public as I feel like I missed the random connections & chance meetings (Hello Donna, Kelli, Katy, Mindy, etc...) of people that I truly dig. So, we'll see how it goes. I'm excited to try to find time to again find my "voice" a bit in the chaos, as well as *maybe* not post so much on FaceBook (although that always seems difficult for me - it's so fast! and easy! and blah blah...

I'm a big failure! UGH! One 12-hour period slips into one day slips into two days slips into practically a week. No blogging. I am lame. I have been doodling more, does that count? Also....just booked 4 plane tickets to AZ for a winter family vacation - yay!!! Can't wait! The end. I'll try to be less lame tomorrow.

Going to try to do something each day of November. It's usually NaBloPoMo for me (or it was when I was blogging regularly...) and I thought about doing NaMoWri...whatever that acronym is...but I really don't have time & haven't done enough prep work for that. SO...unofficially I am going to try to blog something. SOMETHING. Every day in November. This counts, right? I also like the gratitude photos thing on Instagram. We'll see how far I get. Are you doing anything this November?

Hey! Look at that...^^^^^^^^^^^^^ yep - right up there. I finally figured out how to add a 2nd page to my blog. It's only taken me...um....9 years. Go me! ;) But there you have it. A handy dandy link to What's Carrie Cooking? . I will probably be the person using it the most. ha. Ah well. Maybe I'll start posting over there again too. Right now most of my new recipes are on Pinterest. Nothing wrong with that!

Greetings! I cannot believe I have not posted here since February. What the heck. My life feels very much like it is not my own mostly. No time for things like blogging. Barely any time to pick up the toys or fold the laundry (I have baskets of clean clothes everywhere. Seriously. Laundry. Ugh). The only way I'm blogging right now is that I brought my new (old) laptop outside so I can watch the kids & sort of interact with them, while posting some things on FB to sell, uploading pics to ShutteryFly (so I can avoid another photo-losing-disaster like earlier this summer)  and BLOGGING How fun!. So...I would like to make time for myself to do this. I feel like this is a good time of year for me. I've always been a school nerd, so fall means NEW to me. A fresh new start. Maybe weird considering it's the eve of the 9th month of the year, but so what. It's always felt that way to me. New. Fresh. Lovely.  I feel like I'm missing out on so many of the memories of my k...

....I have had LOADS of stuff that I wanted to blog about. I longed for time to do it. I have contemplated getting up an hour early so I could just focus on writing & blogging. And now, I have a few moments on a blissfully blizzardy day - August naps & Steve & Dahlia are working on some home-improvement shelf-building/painting project in the basement (although I hear the drum set....so maybe that's not really going as planned) & here I sit. Blogger open. New post ready to go. (photos uploading to Shutterfly in the background) and I have NOTHING. *sigh* I really should take better notes about my life or something. I miss having this online journal!

Seems like the only thing I'm updating on this blog these days is my reading list. ha. Which is sort of funny. At least to me. Still reading a lot. In fact, since I've started working I'm reading a lot more. I'm not used to having a full hour, once a day, in which to simply eat lunch & read. I will take it! I miss blogging though. I miss writing. I miss catching up with my friends in real life via their blogs & my friends in cyberspace via their blogs. *sigh*  I long for a time when I have time to sit down & recap my weekends or show my projects or simply vent. Maybe I'll get there someday. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I miss having this be my "journal" my diary of my life complete with photos. This is the least I've written on this blog in the past 8 years of its existence. It makes me sad. So many things about who I am/was in my past have simply vanished. Or maybe not vanished but "re-invented." But many of those thin...

I was so excited. I messaged my babysitter for this morning (incidentally, my cousin Anna) to ask if she could come a half an hour earlier. She could! That would give me a full hour after leaving my house & before my first appointment. My plan: Take the laptop, head to McDonalds for cheap food & free wifi & limitless diet coke and BLOG!! Well, I'm here. But I had to get August out of the high chair & get him cleaned up before I left the house. I also was in the middle of wiping counter tops & putting away breakfast stuff. So didn't leave until probably 9:10am. Then, had to drop off my yarn & pick up the new yarn for the day. That was quick but I probably spent 4 minutes trying to find the parking ticket that I need to pay from last week in my mess of a purse. I thought maybe I could just stop at the police station & pay it since I was downtown & kidless. That's no longer an option apparently. Okay, now 5 minutes wasted. Travel time to M...

Are you enjoying all the blog posts I've been writing...in my head? *sigh* I've even been taking photos. I swear, one of these days I'll have a brain to write again.

Well, due to overwhelming demand (one comment) from  my reader, I just wanted to let you know, this space has not been abandoned. It's just on unofficial hiatus, I guess. I write blog posts by the...uh...tens in my head. None of them seem to make it here. I take photos of things I'm going to blog about. And then don't. I'm just so incredibly busy right now. 100% of the time. I am working 2 jobs from home while watching the munckins (full time, daycare/pre-school ended for us this past week - waaaaaah!). My house is a disaster zone, I'm stressed out by all the piles & piles & piles every day...but hey, right now it's where I'm at (read: I'm trying not to get too stressed out about everything so I'll leave it at that). Potential blog posts coming soon: My Book Club - reviews of the first 6 books Pinterest February/March challenge Yarn! Yarn! Yarn! WTF am I doing with my life? (sorry for the abbreviated swearing, Mom) And others. I...

It's one of my favorite times of year! CAOK or "Calculated Acts of Kindness" is something that Kelli coordinates every year. It's been so fun over the years to "play along." I don't always get 46 activities in, but it's a good reminder to stop, think & be thoughtful during this "reawakening" time of year. So - I'm playing along! I invite you too!

Why can't I remember to post something during the day when my brain works better & I supposedly have more time for thinking? Gah...sometimes NaBloPoMo kicks my butt.

After SEVEN years...I've changed the look of my blog. 1. How can it be that I've been keeping up with a project for 7 YEARS? Yay for me! I'm kind of proud of myself. 2. How could it have taken me SEVEN YEARS!? 3. I've enlisted some help ( you know who you are) but haven't gotten around to actually figuring anything out- hopefully soon (July 9?)...I'm just playing with templates right now that ACTUALLY work for the first time in months. 4. This is actually how I spend a Friday night. I'm still standing at the computer in the kitchen. I am officially lame. 5. I'm actually not sure more than 1 or 2 of you still actually READ the blog so if you do - leave me some comment love for crying out loud! 6. Good night (see item #4. Officially lame.)

A few updates...finally...over here .... *email me if you want access & you don't have it.

So my friend Donna is a finalist in the HomeAway Vacation Rentals contest to win a trip to London for the Royal Wedding. All you need to do is go to this link on FB , "like" HomeAway (you can unlike after you vote, I guess) and put your comment down for Donna! It's easy. Go, do it! It would be awesome if she won!!

Well, the time has come. After 6 1/2 years (!?) Naturally Optimistic will be going private at the start of the new year. If you are interested in still reading my INCREDIBLY exciting posts & commenting on my cute children, email me & I will put you on the invite list. Like I said - it won't happen for another couple weeks, but there ya go. Time to make a change. I'm kind of sad because I've met some cool people - randomly - by having this blog....but the phase of putting all my stuff out there for everyone to read is over. Thanks!