Back to a Bloglines Quandry...

I have been wondering about Blog*lines lately. I don't know why my posts don't show up on my feed.

I checked into it again today and I know I used to have 49 subscribers on my blog*lines and now I have 9...I don't know how that happened or what is going on or if I have SEVERELY pissed some people off that they all deleted me...just odd...

I know I don't post all that often, however - I do post at least a couple of times a month...

Sooooo - If you are a reader and you are wondering what happened - it looks like you have to RESUBSCRIBE to the blog in order for it to show up on your blog*lines...

Wow - this post makes me sound desperate, however I know there are people out there wondering what has happened as they then call and e-mail asking why I haven't posted when, in fact, I have but it hasn't shown up for them...

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time there was a gal – for ease sake, lets just call her Michelle. She started blogging. Very close to the beginning of her blogging (addiction) adventure, she stumbled across another blog. Again for ease sake, let just say this blog belonged to Kathy.

Kathy and Michelle started conversing. Kathy mentioned that there was another gal whom she conversed with and this gal is close to Michelle in time lines. Again for ease sake, we will call this girl Dolores. Michelle finds Dolores’ blog – with the help of Kathy. As it turns out, Michelle and Dolores and VERY close in time lines.

So Dolores and Michelle start conversing also. When Michelle and Dolores become DTC, they discover that they are actually in the same travel group!! How cool is that!?!?! So all three are conversing with each other. Michelle and Dolores also discover that they actually only live 5 minutes from each other – Even cooler!!

Michelle and Kathy meet in person at a Waiting Mommies Dinner. Michelle sees what a WONDERFUL person Kathy is! Dolores was unable to make the dinner that day.

Michelle and Dolores decide that they are going to meet each other in person. They meet for dinner and have a GRAND time! Michelle is so pleased to see that Dolores too is a WONDERFUL person!

Then there was a "Bloggy Summit lunch" Michelle and her husband Mark attended and got to meet Kathy's husband Joel (and some other FANTASTIC people). Again Dolores and Shawn were unable to attend. Kathy and Dolores started to wonder if they would ever meet in person.

Michelle was now on a mission to get Kathy and Dolores to meet. Michelle had met both of them and discovered how lucky she was to have these PHENOMENAL women (and their hubby's) in her (their) life.

There was a planned dinner for Kathy, Dolores and Crystal (Dolores and Crystal are BOTH going to make the next waiting mommies dinner) and Michelle to FINALLY meet. This time, Dolores was the only one that was able to attend!!! Michelle, Kathy and Crystal were ALL ill!! What are the odds!

Then there was the next Waiting Mommies Dinner – This time Dolores’ husband was having his birthday and she was unable to attend. Michelle thought – this is getting crazy – she must step in and DO SOMETHING!

Kathy and Joel were due to attend a seminar in Michelle and Dolores’ city. Michelle took quick action and invited Kathy and Joel & Dolores and Shawn to dinner at her home in the hopes that these FABULOUS couples could finally meet in person!!! SUCCESS!! IT HAPPENED!!! At long last, Kathy and Dolores (and their spouses) were able meet in person!!!

NOT the end...

Thoughts

I have really slacked off on posting lately. There are many reasons for this...

We have been busy - that is really not a reason - we are and have always been an incredibly busy couple. We are so lucky to have so many great friends and family that we are always on the go.

Another reason for the lack of posts is that there is really nothing to say...I am sure, as readers, you only want to read and see pictures of our friends and family so much and it is really not exciting to you. You are looking for something with substance and meaning or something funny and entertaining. Sometimes I just don't have it in me to post stuff when there is not substance to it. I am also one of the LEAST creative people that I know and I can't just whip off a thought provoking post or a really funny well written post either. I am MUCH better at communicating in person rather then the written word.

This blog is supposed to be about our adoption journey - well we are certainly taking the slow boat to China and things are progressing at a snails pace. There is nothing to report on the adoption front. Nothing is happening. I don't know when something will happen. No we will not get our baby before summer or Christmas. We probably wont get our baby before NEXT summer or Christmas. We are HOPING to get our baby for summer 2009!!! YES 2009! No I am not kidding. Yes I am serious. No there is nothing I can do to speed it up. Yes we're sure this is what we want. No we can't pursue two adoptions at the same time. Yes we would like a speed up. No there probably won't be a speed up. Yes the wait will continue to grow. No I don't have any new news.

Other reasons for the lack of posts is that I feel censored on this blog. I don't really say what I want to all the time. There are things that REALLY irritate me and thoughts I would love to express about this whole process that I can't voice in an open forum like this. I do worry about the 'blog police'. Even if I went password protected, there are things that I still wouldn't post about. These are things that I can only share with a select few and that I wouldn't be willing for those thoughts to be put on paper as I would fear the repercussions of those words. So as much as this is a journal of our adoption, our wait and our thoughts - this is a edited edition of the live version.

So there you have it - a little snippet of what is going on in my head these days. I am going to try to post more often, but if I don't I don't. Rest assured when there is "something to report" about the baby - I will post it here and you will hear about it - until that time, things might be a bit sporadic...

Assistance Please

While I am in agony over my back, it seems that the only chair that is comfortable is my computer chair!! Go figure. The couch is too soft and the other chair in the living room, my feet don't touch the ground. So here I am in front of the computer - poor me...heehee

So while I am sitting here and getting all caught up on my blog reading, I thought I might do some blog maintenance also. I see everyone with all these different headers and I don't know where they get them from. I have tried searching and I don't come up with ANYTHING exciting or nice at all.

If anyone would like to share their secrets with me, I would really appreciate it! Then I will ATTEMPT to change it on my own - that could be interesting!!

Out of Curiosity...

I am just curious - and this is by no way scientific, but are there people out there who were/are unable to conceive that consume large amounts of aspartame.

I have created a mini poll on the side bar and I would really appreciate it if you participated. Even those people who read and don't comment can participate as it is anonymous.

This is my first poll and I am just kinda figuring things out as I go!

Thanks for helping out!

I don't have a clue...

I guess I am opening myself up to..."something" with a title post like that.

I wanted to update you on number 6000! I don't have a clue! I have no idea who it was. There are many people I can figure out who visit my blog, but there are so many more in which I haven't a clue of who they are...

Oh well, maybe next time when I hit a big number I will send Janet a potato peeler and an prize to Kathy for the most comments to one post!!

Thanks to everyone for the support and thanks for reading!

6000!!!

Holy cow - I am going to reach 6000 hits in the next day!!

Where has the time gone? I remember when I started this blog I wondered is ANYONE would read it!!

I will TRY and figure out who person 6000 is and let you all know!!

Thanks for reading!!

Question about Blogger Comments

Tonight my sister Tracey came over. We were talking about the Spring has Sprung post. I asked her if she had read it and she said yes and she said she left a comment.

I said - I didn't get that comment e-mailed to me. We then went to the e-mail to double check and nope there was no comment e-mail there.

We then went to the post itself, and low and behold, there were 4 comments that were on my post that were NOT e-mailed to me.

This concerns me as I don't generally look at my blog the way others do, I usually only see it from behind the scenes and the e-mailed comments.

Now I am concerned that there are many other comments on my blog that I have never read as they were not e-mailed to me.

Has anyone else had this problem? I am thinking I am going to have to do a lot of backtracking to make sure that I have read all the comments that people so wonderfully left for us.

A bit of this and a bit of that

First off I would like to thank Rhonda and Kathy for the wonderful CNY cards. I am a little behind the 8 ball on that one – sorry... What a lovely gesture and it was very much appreciated! Thank you!!

Secondly – Last night we were at Hortense’s and we celebrated Mark’s birthday! We had a GREAT time as usual!! I made cupcakes and we had them in a ‘tree’. Very cool actually!

Thirdly– I have FINALLY updated my 100 Good Wishes Quilt site – you can see it by clicking here. We are at 37 SQUARES!! Only 63 more needed!!

Fourthly - I would like to address Blog Etiquette – if there is such a thing. Should one seek permission to put a link on your own blog to someone else’s blog? When I first started blogging I was doing this, but then I saw that I was on other people’s blogs and they hadn’t asked me (which I am o.k. with) so then I thought I was doing it wrong so I then just added who I “read” to my blog roll. Should one seek permission?

Fifthly - I would like to address that sometimes there is nothing to comment on. What I mean by that is that someone has made a post (generally a wonderful one) and I generally comment, but there are times when I either, don’t agree with what they have posted about, or I can’t think of anything to say to comment on. I sit here and rack my brain to think of something and either someone has already said it, or I just CAN’T think of anything prolific to say. So it is o.k. to read and NOT comment sometimes – though everyone LOVES comments!

Sixthly – about commenting – if there are a bunch of posts, it is o.k. to just comment on the most recent and not comment on all the previous ones – especially if you have been away and there are 165 new posts on your Bloglines account. I know it is o.k. as I can comment where and when I want, but I was just thinking about it out loud.

Seventhly – how do you get that little icon beside your blog in the address line? Like Rhonda has a little maple leaf, Kathy has a heart and C.J. has her little “picture” symbol??

Eighthly – It is always the question of how much to reveal on your blog. I know MANY others have also grappled with this dilemma as many of them have had some negative experiences. There are many things about myself that I don’t reveal on the blog and perhaps never will. But for now, I am happy with the blogging world and it keeps me in touch with SO MANY wonderful women and that (at this point in time) out weighs any negativity with blogging.

Ninthly – If you are not on my blog roll and you would like to be, please let me know as I am going to be doing some blog housekeeping in the near future.

4000!! UPDATE!! AGAIN!!

4000 Visitors!

Well not quite yet - but some time this weekend I will hit that number - WOW!!!

I remember when I started blogging and seeing counters on other peoples site with high numbers (many much higher then my 4000) and thinking how did they ever get that high...

Now with the new Beta, I am ALWAYS logged on to Blogger so I can leave comments, it is much easier to make a post as I am already logged in.

Watch out readers - there will be posts coming out of the ying yang - o.k. maybe not!!

****UPDATE****- as of 11:56pm on Saturday night - I am at 3988...only 12 more visits!!

ANOTHER UPDATE!!!! It looks like KRISTA was the magic 4000!!!!

Thanks to everyone for reading and leaving comments! Next update on numbers when I think about it when I am close to a big one!