After Much Evaluation...

... I've decided to keep my blog exactly where it is. Despite my absence here during the month of January I actually did spend a fair amount of "blogging" time investigating the options that are out there for a self-hosted blog and my own domain name. And for many reasons, including my general lack of tech-aptitude, I got fed up with trying to make the changes necessary to switch over to a "real" blog and have decided to stay with my nice comfortable friend here on Blogspot.

As part of my plans for the New Year, I have been thinking through various ways I might contribute to the household income. I'm not a direct-sales girl. While I would love to make and sell things, in a creative manner, I believe the market is already flooded with all the things I'd be inclined to produce - zippered pouches in cute fabrics, etc. I love making and yet I often feel as though I don't have an original bone in my body, which makes any true art seem unrealistic. And I'm coming to realize I'm not nearly social enough to have any sort of success in the world of social media - things like building a brand through a blog/Instagram/website/Facebook combo. I rarely post to Facebook anymore. Instagram I find lovely, but I don't like oversharing, and this little blog is really the only voice I feel comfortable with putting "out there."

So, while none of this really answers the question of What I Want To Be When I Grow Up, it does mean I have renewed enthusiasm for keeping up my blog here, just as I've been doing for almost nine years. Thanks for sticking with me!

In other news, we are already in our fourth week of homeschooling and it has indeed been wonderful. We get enough "work" done every day to satisfy the wannabe-teacher in me, and the kids and I have been having a ton of fun around the house, simply enjoying each other more and shedding the stress built up by years of doing the school grind. I've got so much I want to say on all of it, but I'll start with what has been one of my most surprising observations, and that is how much better the kids all get along with each other. Amy and William in particular have been on much better terms than they were when they were at school. I might have thought we'd run the risk of all getting on each others' nerves, especially with the amount we have truly been just in the house, but it's quite the opposite. It's been a very pleasant stretch of weeks and I hope they continue in this same direction.

If nothing else, a morning like today makes it all worthwhile: We finished our work, then went outside in the mid-morning to enjoy the brilliant sunshine and clear blue sky, sledding down the awesome hill in our backyard, over and over again, all together.