I took a 6 month break and all I got was this lousy title.

It's been almost exactly 6 months since I posted here on my little corner of the web. Actually,  I took a small sabbatical from the Internet in general. Well, except Facebook. I AM human, after all. 

So much has happened in those six months. The main thing that happened is that I took a good look at my eating habits (after watching Forks Over Knives)- realized that they were almost comically unhealthy, and changed them.  I started exercising, eating right, getting enough sleep, stopped drinking pop and eating fast food and completely changed my day to day life. I should have done it years ago.  Being in good health has had so many benefits. I look better. I feel better. Best of all, something ELSE happened that I have been waiting and praying for 9 years for.

 I got pregnant.

I wasn't going to share this information here. Mostly because I have a lot of friends that are currently living with (and trying to overcome) infertility.  Dealing with those same problems for the last nine years I know how incredibly frustrating it is to hear about YET ANOTHER person becoming pregnant. I know that while you try to be happy for that person, inside you wonder why it hasn't happened for you yet, then you feel guilty that you aren't just genuinely happy for the other person. I know. BOY do I know.  I have shed more than a few tears over negative pregnancy tests over the years. It's a terrible feeling.

I don't want to cause any pain by sharing my news, which is why I initially decided not to mention it here, but then I realized that I have to share this news, if for nothing else, than to give those other struggling people hope.  If it can FINALLY happen for me, maybe it can FINALLY happen for them too.

So, there it is. I'm going to have a baby.  I'm sick day and night and still more than a little shocked, but ecstatic beyond belief.

How have YOU been these last six months?

Thank Zeus for bloggy friends

Well, if you have made it here and are reading these words, you have more Internet prowess than I do.  I don't know how this all works, but it certainly has been a long week in the blogging world, and it's only Monday.  Yesterday morning thanks to my best blogging friend Glen, I found out that No Missed Opportunities was no longer located at http://www.nomissedopportunities.com/ . This came as a bit of a shock to me considering that was precisely where I left it...

 As it turn out, in a great example of irony, (also pointed out by Glen) I had MISSED THE OPPORTUNITY to renew my NMO address. Ahh  universe, you jokey jokester you.  

At first, I did not know this was the case and I assumed (as I do) that all my previous posts were lost to the deep recesses of the Internet. Not that I write prize winning stuff or anything but you know, one or two of them were funny... and I had spent all that time typing.  So, I spent the next 30 seconds trying to hold back sobs as I considered the possibility that my blog disappearing was a sign that maybe blogging is better left to those with proper grammar and actual writing skills, followed by about 10 minutes of frantically sending emails, text messages, and facebook messages to the people I trust most with my blog and with my feelings.

 Thankfully, Glen, Rhonda and Andrea had my back and helped me find my blog again.   It took all of  two minutes to purchase a new address and get my posts back. This solution left me with two questions- 1) how in the world are people supposed to find me if they can't get here using the old address, and they have no way of knowing the new one?  and 2)What am I having for lunch today? (admittedly not related, but important nevertheless).



"Just renew your domain next time, mortal"

 I am going to just assume that some bespectacled, sweater vest wearing  blogging God has smiled down at me and will just shuffle people in the right direction-after all you are reading this. I hope that if others get to the new blog squatting on my old space, they will realize that it's CLEARLY  not the same blog (better grammar, fewer laughs. However the writer seems to be SUPER TIMELY in purchasing expired domains). 

So there it is. Crisis averted-inconvenience notwithstanding. No Missed Opportunities has moved to http://www.katestaysuplate.com/ , which leaves me with one question:  What am I going to have for lunch?

Not it!

Has your home ever been in such a state of filthy disarray that you believe that burning the place to the ground and starting over would be preferable and less horrifying than the thought of actually cleaning it?  I'm more than a little embarrassed to say that I find my home in this situation more often than I would like. I have a reoccurring nightmare where I am killed by ninjas and my extended family gets together around a large table to talk about tying up my loose ends such as: who gets my sweet minivan, what to do with the $14 in my savings account, and who gets the remaining copies my Redbook subscription. They do this animatedly for hours before finally they need to decide who will go to my house and sort through the rest of my belongings.  So, my mother, who is obviously highly distressed about losing her only daughter and is showing it by wearing a mini skirt and furry boots, says, "So, who wants to go to Katie's house and clean up?" there's a long uncomfortable silence and then all at once, every single person at the table says "NOT IT!".

This is disturbing to me on many levels but mostly because in this scenario my mother is dressed like Snookie.

No. Just no.

Anyway, so yes, my house is a disaster. Like...Hoarders with less dried cat poop and more dust. It's not disgusting like, unsanitary- but more cluttered than anything else. We all have problems with a)throwing things away and b) putting things where they belong as opposed to on the nearest flat surface.

 I would like to blame the mess on a 3 day power outage we had this past weekend, but to be fair, it's not the power company's fault. It's mine. I did not get the obsessive neat-freak gene that my mother proudly possesses. I did, however get her terrible eyesight.

Tonight, the plan is to tackle the living room. I have good intentions now, but I also have a very comfortable couch. 

Maybe I'll just take my glasses off instead. Out of sight, out of mind.

And just so you know, the $14 should be used to buy Twinkies, should you find yourself in possession of my savings after a tragic ninja attack.

That feels better!

 I must be honest and tell you that I did not intend to take a 5 month break from the ol' blog, it kind of just happened that way.

 At first it was merely a time thing. In August, my son played "Charlie" in a community production of Willy Wonka. During that time, and the three months before, I lived and breathed Willy Wonka. I was running lines, singing songs, driving my little star to and from practices, and being an equal mixture of exceedingly proud of him and being exceedingly terrified for him. That last one will take a lot out of you. 

I was busy being mother/manager and no matter how much I wanted to write, when I came home at night, my brain was fried and I just couldn't bring myself to write like I wanted to. My best writing at the time were extensive "to do" lists for the following day that I physically had to make just to be able to shut my brain off long enough to sleep.

And if I am going to be very honest, something else happened about that time: I got incredibly frustrated with the blogging community. It seemed that blogging had changed from writing because I  love to write to blogging as a contest to see how popular I could get or how many sponsors I could acquire or how many followers I had collected on my side bar.  I hated that. I did not want to become that person.

Now, please don't get me wrong. If you are a blogger and you have 15 bazillion followers and the people at Pepsi have purchased you a private jet with your name emblazned on the side to take you to all of your bloggy speaking arrangements so that you can tell other people how blogging has changed your life, that is AMAZING and I admire you for your fabulous writing and content as well as your superior marketing prowess. There is nothing wrong with that.

What felt wrong to me was that I would get online and visit my favorite blogs and instead of coming away inspired or happy or whatever good emotion  I had felt before, I instead leave, thinking to myself, "what in the WORLD am I doing wrong!? All of these people are getting 50 billion page views a day and making enough money to support themselves just by writing! I am CLEARLY doing something wrong."

 I must suck as a writer.
 I SUCK as a writer.
 I SUCK.

And so on.
 That is my long winded blogging boohoo story. I made the mistake of comparing my writing to others. The mistake of comparing my blog to other blogs. I lost interest playing that game. Thankfully, I had Willy Wonka as an excuse to distance myself for a while. One month became two, which became five. I took that time to think about what I really wanted.  I also realized that blogging is not a competition. Not for me, anyway. Not unless I choose to compare myself to others. I write because I love to write. I write because my favorite teacher once made this comment on a story I'd written : 

Katie, this story was a joy to read! I can tell you love to write. Keep it up!

I think I will.