A lot can happen in a few years, and it has, since I abandoned Hope Is the Word for a new blog, which I later abandoned after not much time. I’ve been missing blogging lately, though, and it feels like I might finally be back in a place where I can put down a few bookish and “other sundry” thoughts now and again. At least, this is my hope. I came back to Hope Is the Word because the other place just never felt like home. It does feel good to be home, and I do hope that some of my regular friends will find me at home once again and pay me a visit.
How have I kept myself busy these last few years? Well, according to my last posts, I was still blogging when the great upheaval of my life occurred. This was, of course, our ending homeschooling as a family, lock-stock-and-barrel, and my returning to full time work as a teacher. I am still processing this and am not quite certain even still what to say about it. Maybe one day I will have enough distance to share more about it.
So, I’ve been working! And that is a good thing, all things considered, as much as I value being an at-home mom. I’m on my second full year of full-time employment, and I am back working in public school. This, naturally, takes up a majority of my time.
Outside of reading, my two latest hobbies-of-the-moment are cross-stitching and houseplants. Yes, houseplants. (I can’t believe it myself sometimes.) I have the pandemic to thank for the first hobby. When schools shut down last spring, I almost immediately dug out a project I had abandoned for lack of time, finished it, and subsequently have finished three more, with a fourth almost completed. I find it soothing, almost meditative, and also something I can do while listening to audiobooks or watching an occasional movie. The houseplants hobby I owe to our family moving houses this summer and trying to find just the right place for a few of my babies. I stumbled upon some houseplant Youtubers, and the rest is history.
My family is the same, but older. While homeschooling, which was one of the first reasons I blogged, necessitated that I write about my children, I mostly did it in general terms. This new iteration of my blog should see even less mention of them. We’re all still here, just growing and changing, as humans do.
What do I want from this blog? I want a place to share my thoughts, without worrying about SEO and formatting and all that stuff “they” say to think about. I want to go back to old-school blogging. This blog has never and will never make much money, and I’m okay with that, because it’s for me. I need to write, to share my thoughts about my current interests, and to have an audience, no matter how small. I hope to be back here in this space in the next week or so, sharing some of my favorite reads from 2020. Until then, Merry Christmas from me to you!
