Sometimes you start something, and have every intention of doing it regularly, and you do for a while, but then you just fall out of the habit. That’s where I am with blogging at the moment. When I started the blog, I told myself that I would post every week. And I did, at first. But then there were several times that I posted at 11:59pm on Saturday nights because I didn’t want to not post during that week and, for whatever reason, in the U.S. of A. somebody decided that the week starts on Sunday. Side note: every other country that I’ve spent time in starts each calendar week on Monday (which makes way more sense because then Saturday and Sunday are actually the weekEND). Anyway, when I wrote those posts in a rush just to get them up, they never turned out as well as they could have, and I didn’t feel great about them. I’d been telling myself that posting, even if I wasn’t completely happy with what I’d written, was better than not posting. And I still think that’s true. I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts and reading a lot of books about starting side hustles and changing your mindset, and I’ve heard multiple times that an imperfect finished product is better than an unfinished perfect idea of a product. But I also want to feel proud of what I produce, so I started allowing myself to skip a week here and there. And now it’s been almost a month since my last post, and I don’t have an excuse.
Yes, it was the holiday season, but I’m still only working 20 hours a week. And it’s not that I haven’t thought about it–I’ve even had new blog ideas, but I didn’t put them in my spreadsheet of ideas, so now they’re probably lost forever because I have the memory of a goldfish sometimes. And I don’t even know exactly what changed, or why I haven’t written. It might be that I have a lot of other things that I’m trying to work on. Or that I haven’t really tried anything new lately or accomplished something that I feel like writing about. I mean, I’m still on my running streak (today was day number 238!). And I successfully executed this recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars. But that’s about it. Although, on another side note: I’ve made the bars three times in the last few weeks (because they’re delicious and we had gatherings to go to), and the second and third times, on The Bearded One’s suggestion, I made a graham cracker crust for the bottom instead of that first package of crescent rolls. And I added some cinnamon to the graham cracker crust. And, great Caeser’s ghost, they’re delightful.
So, here I am. Just a blogger without much of a story to tell. I’m still trying to figure out what this blog is about sometimes. I was actually planning to write a post about putting what I’m calling a Harry Potter Pantry in under the stairs in our hallway. I made it as far as borrowing an endoscope to look into the space through an existing hole (Thanks, Merlin!), and cutting about a 5″ x 5″ hole in the wall to get a better look before realizing that there might be asbestos in drywall, and maybe I should look into that before exposing us to more drywall dust.
So then I stalled out on that project until I was able to talk to an asbestos professional who advised me not to “freak out about it too much”, because it’s really rare to have asbestos actually in drywall, though it’s fairly common to have asbestos in older joint compound, but just a small amount, and that if I don’t want to get it tested but I’m still worried about it, I could always just keep the drywall wet while I’m sawing through it and use a wet/dry vac with a HEPA-rated filter for cleanup. So then I shopped around for the best deal on that kind of a vacuum because the one I already have doesn’t have (and isn’t capable of having) that kind of a filter, splurged on a little more than just that since I have several other projects in mind, and brought it home today. The batteries are charging, so I can get started on this ASAP because, in addition to our two Instant Pots, The Bearded One and I also recently acquired a Power Air Fryer XL, and we just don’t have room for all of that AND dishes AND groceries in our kitchen cupboards. And I need more counter space because I’d like to do more non-small-appliance cooking and baking since my recent cheesecake bar triumphs and binge-watching of the first season and a half of The Great British Baking Show have me convinced that I’m actually a culinary genius.
BUT. Back to the point. I also want to continue blogging. I honestly believe it helps me accomplish more sometimes because I want to have something good to write about. And, even if I’m not accomplishing significant things, it helps remind me to do some regular self-reflection, which I think is important for everyone to do. Going forward, I want to start posting weekly again, but I also want to be proud of what I’m posting. I don’t want to do any more rushing to get something posted by a certain time–I want to have at least a little time to revise and proofread my rambling thoughts. So, this has just turned into a post talking about how I want to post in the future, but I guess that’s alright. “…American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States.” (-Wikipedia) Booker T. Washington once said, “Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the everyday things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon.” I’m going to try to take that advice to focus on the small things–running every day, posting every week, finding joy wherever I can, practicing gratitude, working on this house to make it homier, and adding more habits that will lead to a more successful life.
growingmoxie.com 