It's not you, It's me.

Ever since mid-April, I have curbed my blogging. I don't post every day. I don't even post every week on occasion. I don't read every day. I don't comment every day. It's not you, it's me.

I have been spending time outside taking care of the lawn and flowers. I have been taking the kids to the pool and to friends. I have been visiting with friends and family and it has been great. I FINALLY feel relief from the guilt I felt when I first started to curb my blogging. I felt as if I were letting people down if they came here and there wasn't new material. I felt as if I were being a bad friend to my blog buddies if I didn't read and heaven forbid, did not comment DAILY. I don't feel that way too much any more. I was neglecting a lot in my tangible real life for my blog life and it wasn't settling well with me. I have found a better balance. It's not you, it's me.

However, I don't want my blog buddies to think I have forgotten them. I am reading you. I think of you often and you make my day often with your humor and your insight. I may not comment, but I am reading. I admit I don't read daily, I don't even read every post you write, especially, you and you and you that don't let your entire post feed into my reader. I know I am lazy, I admit it, but I have reprioritized and I feel good about where and how I am spending my time. It's not you, it's me.

I have also been terrible about posting awards. Here my blog buddies have given me a shout out and I have not even taken the time to acknowledge it. For that I am sorry. It's not you, it's me.

Here are a few of awards I dug up and dusted off from a few months ago. Yes MONTHS!!!

Kim at Jogging in Circles gave me THIS AWARD because she is a real friend.

Go read her. She did this photo post about her day in the City. She lives on Long Island and occasionally goes into the REAL LIVE NEW YORK CITY for work, play, etc. I told her I would counter her post with a photo post about my day in Peoria, IL so she could have a good laugh. I still haven't done that. But, Kim, it's not you, it's me, really.

Laskigal at FROM THE CHEAP SEATS gave me this award.



Laskigal is sharp, fun, insightful and enjoyable. She recently made the decision not to go back to teaching and stay home with her little guy full time. A tough decision, but one that will reap a lifetime of rewards.

Holly at June Cleaver Nirvana just gave me this award.

I already have this award in my side bar, but she has been doing that a lot lately. So, I will take the matching set, plus I just want to mention her because she is nothing short of A-doubleyou-e-s-o-m-e! You have to go read this post about her experience with God's furry creatures wreaking havoc on her landscape. Plus she is a Texan with THREE boys- two the same age as mine. I want to meet her and get our boys to play together, although I will have to ensure I mark my boys' crocs somehow first.

Then Kristen at Loving our Simple Life, who I believe was separated from me at birth because we continue to find out more and more things we have in common like origins in the Midwest, our husband's working in the same industry, an affection for Peach Cream Pie - I didn't know many other people outside of Southeast Missouri KNEW what peach cream pie was, and oh, yeah, a husband who has dealt with a brain tumor (yes way) gave me this award.

Thanks to my blogging friends. Sorry for the delay in posting. And I'm totally ignoring the rules associated with each award because I don't want to pick and choose who to award to. Read the posts that scroll over to the right side in my recent blogroll - ALL of those people are ones I would pass these awards on to, but I don't feel like doing all those links. See, it's not you, it's me.

On the it's not you, it's me train of thought, please know for the next couple weeks, I will not be posting much real time. That is because my baby and only sister is HAVING A BABY on Wednesday - a planned C-section because she actually gives birth to newborns shaped like toddlers and her doctor didn't want to put her through that again. The boys and I are going down to see her and help her and take over her house for a few days. Well, I am anyway. In order to actually BE OF ASSISTANCE to Mindi, my mom is going to let the boys take over her house for a few days instead. And because I have kids and God loves to test my patience, I have decided to forgo my own selfish agenda of arriving on Tuesday to be present for the birth at the crack of dawn on Wednesday in order to quarantine my children for another day. Grant had a sore throat and headache and vomiting on Saturday and Sunday. I do have a conscience and I don't think I would be able to live with myself if I infested the newborn household with such disease. We like to wait until the children are eating table food to do that.

So, I have a few scheduled posts in my absence. I plan on directing you to a few new blogs and a few of my favorite past posts (mostly written by others). But remember...

It's not you, it's me.

KEEP BELIEVING