Humdrum

When I moved over the Word Press (from Blogger) a good long while ago, I decided not to import all of my blog posts. I had a presumably good reason for it at the time. Not sure what it was now.

However, now I’d like those posts to be here. And now I can’t re-import them from Blogger. (I imported them originally and then I guess I deleted them, but they’re still in my old Blogger account.)

So. That’s what I’ve been doing in the blogging world for the last two days. Trying to figure out how to get them over here in the least complicated fashion. I have not been successful.

Most of that time has been spent deleting posts on Blogger that I did keep on this blog. One. By. One. Usually with Duncan tugging at my arm, trying to take the mouse from me, or persuading me to let him have a turn at the computer. The boy loves the computer.

I tried creating another Word Press blog, but that didn’t work. So I think I’m going to have to create a blog on a different service that will let me import posts from Blogger that I can then import into this blog. Sounds like fun, eh?

I also have a bunch of actual (i.e. billable) work in the queue, which makes fiddling around with old blog posts from 2005 seem…um…silly?

New on the blog roll

When my children stop waking me up 4 times in one night, I’ll post more. Really. This morning I feel like I’ve lost a fight, or rowed a marathon. Or something.

Happy St. Patty’s Day, by the way. Duncan and I are wearing green. Berry was wearing green, until I insisted that she put on something other than pajamas to go out in.

I wish I had more time to read other people’s blogs. But I do try and keep up with the few folks I know and like and, occasionally add some more.

New on the blog roll lately are 2 sites:

The Environmental Working Group’s Enviro blog and Alltop’s list of Mommy blogs. I hope to add some more green blogs. But they need to be ones I may actually read. I like Alltop because there are all those blogs I can surf around on until I find something that I like.

There’s a balance in blogging and reading blogs. They need to be updated frequently enough that you check them a few times a week. But not so often that they’re overwhelming. Readers also like to know when to check — every day, twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays…yeah, you’re probably not going to get that kind of consistency from me. Sorry about that.

I would blog, but…

You were starting to believe I’d blog every day, weren’t you?

Yeah, me too.

Then Real Life crept back in. What’s with that? Berry has a cold, Duncan slept in really late this morning so he’s refusing to take a nap, Kevin has been sick all morning. So, even though the sitter has been here, I’ve gotten 10 minutes of billable work done. That was right before lunch. It’s not good when your morning’s work is reduced to being counted by the minute.

Berry is finally napping. Duncan is talking to his teddy bears and being stubborn. But at least he’s contained in his room. I’m in my office wondering if I should get into a project or not before I’m inevitably interrupted again.

I was going to write last night before bed about some insights I gleaned from watching Oprah and Eckhart Tolle on the web cast Monday night (thanks for calling to remind me, Mum). But after being woken up multiple times by everyone in the house (Duncan somehow fell out of bed at 4 am, Kevin was up puking and repeatedly pulling the covers off me), I’m not sure my brain is up to depth and eloquence.

Basically, it was this:

I’m doing better than I think in the spiritual awareness aspect of my life. Listening to people who seem to know what they’re talking about helps me realize that and deepen my connections. Good stuff.

During the web cast, Eckhart (I’m sure he’d be OK with us being on a first name basis) answered a woman’s question about how to keep her young children from identifying too much with their ego. He said that children have to learn what things are called, but that you can tell them, “That is called an oak tree,” rather than “That is an oak tree.” Because the tree is more than the label of “oak tree.”

It reminded me of the difference in French and English with how we refer to what a person is called. In English, we say, “My name is Joanna.” In French, “Je m’appelle Joanna,” means “They call me Joanna.” Meaning that it’s what people call me, it’s not who I am.

Three thoughts

Two insightful thoughts came to me yesterday:

Insight #1: I spend so much time taking care of everyone else, I should take 15-20 minutes a day to focuse on my own inner spiritual growth and being.

Insight #2: I should use my Reverend title more. I worked hard to earn it and it reminds me that I am, indeed, a minister. Which focuses my thoughts and emotions on being more spiritual, which in turn makes me happy.

Why these insights? Eh, who knows. Perhaps it’s because I signed up for the Oprah Web Event of the Century (or whatever they’re calling it) and am reading Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth. My mum talked me into it. I’ve had lots of practice not doing what my mum’s told me I should do, so I thought I’d try out a new tactic and follow some of her suggestions and advice.

(Note to Mum: “Some” not “all.” Stop celebrating already.)

Another insight occurred to me today.

Insight #3: Writing makes me happy, as does connecting with other people. Maybe I should also take a few minutes (if I can find them somewhere) and write a little bit more…like on here. I go back and forth about the whole blog = public journal thing. But, let’s face it, I’m not going to find the time to, say, write a book any time soon. So I might as well write the little bits and pieces that float through my head. Maybe. We’ll see how that goes. “Making” extra time means it comes from somewhere and I’ve already cut down on showering.

What happened to “Silandara’s blog”?

Weren’t you getting tired of that train track image? I was. And that whole dark green background thing (if the other background didn’t load, which it doesn’t on PDAs) wasn’t working for me.

Change is good. And I keep wrestling with what to blather about on this blog.

Writing about the kids doesn’t feel right as I worry about their safety and privacy. (We do have an unadvertised family blog, e-mail me if you want the URL for it.)

Writing about work is tricky as I don’t want to put off any current or potential clients.

There’s lots of personal stuff I could share; but I don’t want to. I have a pen and paper journal for that. Some things don’t need to be aired in a roomful of strangers. Not that everyone who reads this is a stranger, but I get more hits (amazingly) than people I know that read this blog.

I could write about random things and celebrity news. But I want to write about things I’m passionate about.

It’s important to live an authentic life and present an honest image of yourself. I have an idea of what that means as far as this medium is concerned. And it needs a name other than “Silandara’s blog” – especially as I keep seriously considering going back to being called “Joanna.”

Years ago, losers.org rated my web site (and told me to rub my crystals together and dream up a new page — and then didn’t update their site for several years while I went through several remodels). My point? They called me a “greenie.” And I am. I’ve stepped away from that in recent years. Maybe because the PTSD of living in a camper, off-grid in the woods and almost starving to death before Christmas one year was too much for me. But just because my former back to basics life didn’t work out so well doesn’t mean I can’t be as environmentally conscious as possible now. I think that’s a story I can share. Maybe it’ll even inspire others to do the same.

Why no blogging (again)

Life just keeps going by. I know it’s supposed to do that and it’d be very bad if it didn’t.

But I half-compose blog posts in my head – when I’m falling asleep or am in the shower or cuddling a baby. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have computer interfaces in any and all our flat surfaces (we will in a few years, probably), so I’m rarely near a computer when these blog thoughts surface.

I’ve wanted to write about how often a 2-year-old pees, how I managed to convince said 2-year-old to not wake me up at night, the challenge of finding new clients and working, the fact that Duncan is now two years old. But then I don’t. And then it becomes too much to write about at once. So I don’t write at all.

Then there’s the challenge of someone resisting a nap and someone else wandering off across the room with the wireless mouse while saying “poo poo.”

Now he’s taking the mousepad, too. I know we don’t NEED a mousepad with a wireless laser mouse, but we use one anyway. I’m getting a truck on the keyboard instead. That’ll be useful. And now a train. Must go.

Blogging in my head

I want you to know that I’ve been blogging. In my head.

Somehow the act of taking those “head thoughts” and turning them into “written thoughts” is just too much effort most days. But I think about it all the time. Mostly I think about how lame I’ve become about it.

Partly, I’ve been busy. Most of my awake non-Duncan time that is spent working. I’m working as much now as I was when I was at RIT. Not making as much money yet. But working hard.

I’ve also been somewhat exhausted when I haven’t been working. I used to get in a couple of hours of computer time after Duncan went to bed. Now I plop on the couch for an hour or so after dinner, watch some TV and fold laundry. It’s an exciting life.

Growing new human life takes a lot of you. And I thought this pregnancy would be easier.

So those are my excuses.

How am I finding the time to blog right now, you wonder? Well, right now I’m procrastinating about doing something else.

Being a bad blogger again

I’m a bad bad blogger lately – at least here.

I think of things to write about all the time. But getting near a computer when I can get my thoughts down is proving to be difficult. Either I’m on the clock for a client or a little boy is tugging at my leg and trying to crawl into the computer cabinet.

Sure, I could take my notebook downstairs into the dining room and tap out a few notes from there. I could, at the very least, add links to some interesting blogs I’ve been finding and add a Flash thingy that shows the latest pics in my Flickr photostream.

But no. I did try and add the Flickr thing and realized I have no idea anymore how to edit my index page. It’s been so long since I messed with it. And then someone woke up, probably, or I got distracted and that was the end of it.

I also wonder what to write about these days. Rochester-related stuff goes on the insider blog. Duncan stuff…well, I’ve found a cool, private online community of other mums who had babies last July — we’ve been talking to each other since we all got pregnant in October 2004 — so when the latest baby developments and musings come up, I post there. Which leaves me with not much left to say on this blog.
That sucks because I know people read it. Or read it (past tense). Not much point when I don’t post regularly, though.

I’d like to think I have something useful and interesting to say besides Rochester and Duncan. I probably do. But I’m not sure I have the time to let it come out in its own natural way. So it goes. I guess I’ll just keep trying.

Quickie update

I’ve been blogging like crazy lately. Yeah, not here. Somewhere else.

I’m writing for the Rochester insider – my own blog the ROC outsider. My mission: to post 3 times a week about my life in Rochester. Every post has some kind of Rochester connection, whether it’s going to the public market, donating clothes to a local charity, or other Rochester bloggers.

I have a long list of ideas of things to write about (if I could only find it) and spend my days thinking about how everything I’m doing could possibly turn into a blog post. It’s fun, though, and I am getting paid. So when I go out to do stuff, I’m really earning money… Hmm…I think that’s how travel writing works.

However, it hasn’t left me a lot of time/blogging thought power for this blog so it’s been sadly neglected. Well, that and working for a living, finding new clients, doing work for current clients, working on the business website, etc. has been using up my time. The Exhausto-Boy has been using up the rest of my energy, leaving me good for only a quick dinner, folding laundry and an episode of Charmed by the time he’s gone to bed.

I hear him wimpering in his crib after a nap, so I’d better jump off and give him some loving.

Meme on books

I got tagged for a meme – 15 facts and personal preferences about books. Here goes. Thanks Christina.

1. I’ve always loved reading. Absolutely loved it.

2. I used to devour books on school vacations. I have particularly fond memories of reading The Famous Five series one summer. A bunch of them were hand-me-downs from my brother and I couldn’t get enough of them.

3. My mum once tore my copy of Harry and the Hendersons (yes, the book, based on the movie, or vice versa) in half down the spine because I wasn’t sharing something with my brother. He was visiting us in Barbados for Christmas. I’d just gotten the book and was lost in reading it. Christopher was sweet and taped it back together for me.

4. I single-handedly installed bookshelves in my office last year so I’d have somewhere to house all of my books. I still don’t have enough room – that’s after donating a couple of boxes to my church’s book sale last year and giving tons away through Bookcrossing.

5. I love the idea of Bookcrossing, but just don’t have the time to do it anymore. I think I only ever found one book I wanted to pick up and read. And I still haven’t read it yet.
6. My favorite book from my childhood is Watership Down.

7. I always wanted to be picked to read out loud in class at school. But they usually skipped over me and picked the kid who stumbled over his words.

8. Duncan has a trillion books, the bulk of which came from my sister-in-law who works as a teacher’s assistant in a school. He needs his own bookshelf (they’re on the ones in my office right now).

9. I’m currently reading Naked Conversations. All about blogging.

10. I was obsessed with reading books about pregnancy while I was pregnant with Duncan. But then I came home from the hospital and realized I didn’t have a single one about what to expect next. So I hopped on the computer and took care of that.

11. The last book I read for pleasure in its entireity (non-baby-related) was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It came out in early/mid-July and I waddled my hugely pregnant body to the store and indulged myself. Then I spent 3 days reading it in between naps, half worried that I’d go into labor before finishing it and half worried that I’d finish it and have nothing else good to read while I was waiting.

12. While I was being admitted to the hospital, I was reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. However I only made it through the first short story which revolves around the breakdown of a marriage after the wife gives birth to a stillborn baby. Great. Bubble of peace. Bubble of peace.

13. Duncan’s favorite book is That’s Not My Dinosaur. He “reads” it by himself and loves touching the different textures. Coming in a close second is What Lives in the Pond as it’s squishy and he can eat it.

14. I rarely use cookbooks, yet I own at least a dozen.

15. I love having hardback books on my bookshelf, but I prefer reading paperbacks. They’re easier to hold and I don’t worry about damaging them.

Now I’m supposed to tag 3 people that may or may not ever complete this. Linda, Jen and Diedra. You’re it, mommy friends.