Back

Hey folks, I'm back.

So, for those of you that noticed, I did not post a single blog in the month of August.  That was on purpose (instead of due to laziness, as is usually the case).

I participated in the 31 day blog challenge in July and posted 31 write-ups in 31 days.  While I enjoyed it, it was exhausting.

So, for August, I put myself on a technology diet.  No  blogging, minimal Facebooking, minimal surfing.  No more than an hour, every other day.  At first, it was easy...I was worn out and kinda sick of the computer.  By mid month, I was starting to jones a bit, but got over it.  By the end of the month, it was habit.

So, what did I learn?  I learned that there is life without Facebook, and that life is pretty fricking sweet.  There is so much drama and self absorption on Facebook.  I find myself drawn into people's idiocy and wanting to fight with them about stupid comments, their un-ending depression or their false eternal and never ending optimism (no one's life is that happy all the time.  No one's.)  It is absolutely ridiculous to say, but my stress level went way, waaaay down without Facebook.  What does that say about me?  Nothing good, I think.

So, with the month over, I have decided to blog again.  Don't get me wrong, I love blogging and I like blogging often.  I spent much of the month thinking of things to write and topics to cover (most of them are already forgotten, but whatevs).  But I think I don't like having the pressure of a deadline over me.  I have enough of that at work, I don't need it here too.

Facebook has become something of a necessary evil in my life.  It is kinda unavoidable right now.  I sell stuff on there, and it is often a major form of communication between family and friends of mine.  So for now, I stay with Facebook, but in a very reduced capacity.

So, you might ask, if I wasn't blogging and Facebooking, what the hell was I doing?  Let me tell you:
- Went to the Kitchener Blues Festival
- Celebrated Geoff's 40th birthday
- Discovered a new restaurant- Memphis Fire BBQ Company in Winona.  AAAAAWESOME!
- Had the White Trash Party for Geoff's 40th.
- Finished the backyard patio (well, Adam did and I tried to help.)
- Painted.  Lots (the garage door, the front door, the window trim, the door trim, the wicker furniture, the railing, the plant stand, the space above the garage door, the Adirondack chairs, etc, etc.)
- Cut the trellis off my side porch and opened it up.
- Started draining the pool.
- Harvested (and keep harvesting) tomatoes and zucchini from my garden.
- Got Sawyer riding a big girl bike (training wheels still on, but still great).
- Hung a window frame as my headboard.  Looks awesome.
- Did some crafts for my SILs (one of them has it, the other doesn't, so I can't get into specifics)
- Did a craft for Sawyer's birthday ( I made her Rapunzel hair and I did a birthday questionaire. I plan on repeating it every year).
- Did a craft for Geoff for the store (I painted plaques in their store colours- purple and green- and used their  signature font to put their names on it. I figure they can hang them or stand them on their desks.  Sawyer helped me with the base painting.  Don't know if they like them, but I thought they turned out cool).
- Did crafts for me (made 2 Harry Potter themed candle holders for the front porch and tweaked my front door a tiny bit.)
- Took the kids to Zooz
- Started knitting.
- Went to see Bruce Springsteen.  Amazing.
- Got tickets for the next Bruce Springsteen show.
- Celebrated Sawyer's 4th birthday.
- Took Sawyer and her friend for a Princess makeover and out to lunch.
- Built a fence and gate for my MIL.  It looks great, if I do say so myself.
- Jumped back on the diet bandwagon.  Down to my lowest weight in 20 years. 1.5 lbs away from 70lbs lost.
- Started planning for next year's Supernatural convention with Dawn.
- Got Sebastian registered for his new school.
- Tried to figure out how I was going to pay for Sebastian's new school.
- Figured out a couple of ways to pay for Sebastian's new school.  One of them is to fund raise, and all of our friends are helping.  Love you guys.
- Started making crayon wreaths to help pay for Sebastian's new school.
- Kept the home fires burning while Geoff is getting ready to open his new comic book store.  We are essentially ships passing in the night (well, actually passing around 8am and 5pm.)
- Getting the house functioning and working in a way that I like.  Laundry caught up and dishes done every day.  Can you say "well oiled machine?"

I am sure there is a whole lot more that I am not remembering right now.  But what I basically found was that I was super busy and really productive when the lure of the computer just wasn't there.  I liked it.  I really really did.  So, I am compromising a bit, but sticking with what works.

I am back.  I missed you.

Rosie N. Grey
The N stands for "new lease on life".