So Here’s The Thing…
I never actually intended to take a ‘blog break.’
I didn’t sit down with a calendar and decide how many weeks I would wait until I posted again (who am I kidding, when have you guys EVER known me to be that organized?!) But I have never gone this long without posting since I started this blog, so after a while it was starting to feel weird even to me. And to tell you the truth, I don’t have a real good reason why it happened. I mean, I could guess at a few contributing factors, but since I never really “made a decision” to walk away for a few weeks, I don’t have anything definitive to point to.
I was not burned out. I didn’t suddenly decide I hated blogging. I didn’t have writer’s block. I don’t have some HUGE MYSTERIOUS THING going on in my life that I couldn’t talk about, or that kept me from being able to write– although I might make one up, because that would be a WAY better story!
I do know that the holiday season was a little sad this year, because it was the first time ever in my life (and the girls’ lives, too) we didn’t spend Thanksgiving and Christmas waking up in my parent’s house, since Mom moved into Fox Ridge. BUT– big sloppy blessings from heaven were poured out all over the Taff family in the form of our ‘family of choice,’ Momma June and Daddy Bud Smedley. We always spend Christmas Eve with our thundering hordes of Smedleys, but we have never actually just moved in lock, stock and (prone-to-accidents) dogs, before. June has my undying gratitude for the loving, gracious welcome we experienced. It lessened the finality of ‘it will never again be the way it used to be,’ and turned it into “what a rich, wonderful new chapter we get to experience.” So while there was a bit of a bittersweetness to this year’s holidays, it was waaaaaaaaaay more sweet than anything else, and it certainly wasn’t a reason to stop blogging for a while. Nor was the fact that we are showing the house every dang time we turn around (which is a good thing, I know, but seriously– SOMEBODY BUY IT, ALREADY!) which means we spend an inordinate amount of time getting it show-ready (fresh flowers, spotless surfaces, Windexing the crap out of everything in sight) and then another inordinate amount of time looking for all of the things we can now no longer find because we crammed them somewhere while getting the house show-ready. Annoying and time-consuming? Yes? Rendering me unable to blog? No.
I know, I know. I totally need a better story.
One time at a blogging conference, someone asked Scott Stratten (he’s one of the gurus of the marketing and blogging world), “How often should you post on your blog?” and his answer was, “When you have something awesome to post.” He’s a big believer in blogging with passion, and I guess I am, too– so maybe the answer is, if I was going day after day without feeling strongly that I had something to say, maybe I needed to step back, recharge myself a little bit, and see if I could rekindle some of that passion. All I know is that for a few weeks, I would wake up in the morning, look over at the computer and say to myself… Not today. I knew that sooner or later I would wake up and really want to start this conversation again– and then I would. And apparently this is that day!
If it makes you feel any more kindly towards me, please know that I have felt ridiculously guilty every single day I didn’t post. I mean seriously guilty. Which is a little presumptuous when you think about it– because surprisingly you guys apparently managed to continue to find the will to live, the entire blogosphere did not band together and in one voice demand my return, and the world continued to turn on its axis. I’m shocked and appalled.
So, here we are. Not sure how much of THE AWESOME I have to offer right now– I figure I’ll step into the shallow end of the pool first by just posting a hodge-podge of photos from the last month or so…
(And, btw– thanks for still being here. I missed you.)
(And I fully expect you guys to catch me up on what YOU’VE been doing in the comments!)
In no particular order:
**Phoebe sitting on Charlotte’s head at Momma June’s house.
**Yeah, I made The Cookies again.
**This goes all the way back to Thanksgiving, but it needs to be seen–Remember the Great Brach’s Candy Corn Shortage/Panic of 2012? Well, sweet reader and friend ‘carsmith’ TOTALLY hooked me up — and taught me the joy of throwing in peanuts, as well!
**Yes, Finley– great-uncle Russ’ DOES have a big ol’ mouth…
**A little sneak peek of a little corner of our Bell Buckle house: I was visiting sweet Donna and her husband (they are renting it while they build a new house around the corner and we are selling our house in Brentwood), and wanted to check out what was behind the fabulous cast iron cover of the coal fireplace…
**And here’s one of our Bell Buckle doorknobs!
**Russ at his new favorite place to eat in Eureka Springs:
**White Christmas in Arkansas– you’re never too old to build a snow fort:
**One of my favorite presents:
**Mom and Pandy
**Talking to Mom with Madi:
**And last but not least: Last week, for two all-too-brief songs, my personal favorite Imperials line-up reunited in Nashville!
