Ground Rules

First of all, thank you VERY much for such a warm welcome back!  Your comments re-confirmed that returning is the right decision.

But, then, who wouldn't welcome me back with open arms?  My charm and charisma are pretty much irresistible.

As for my hesitancy about returning, I had two major hurdles that I had contemplated when I thought about returning to blogging.  I think it's pertinent to describe them because it describes some changes to my new approach to the blog.

1.  It's time consuming keeping up with everyone else's blogs.

Dilemma: A lot of blogging is reciprocal: You read my blog, leave a comment, and the expectation is that I'll read your blog and leave you a comment.  As much as I enjoy reading others' blogs, this expectation is the blog element that I find exhausting.

Solution: So, here's the dealio: I'll read what I can, when I can, but I can't guarantee that I can read and comment on everyone's blogs, as much as I'd love it.  Not happenin.  If that means a smaller readership here, that's okay.



2.  What to do with the children?

Dilemma: One reason I needed the blog-break back in January was actually a two-fold reason: A.) A bloggy-crisis-of-identity.  Is this a running blog?  A mommy blog?  Just random YouTube videos of kittens wearing human clothes?  Okay, so it definitely was NOT the last one, but just think, readership would skyrocket!  Everyone loves kittens in human clothes.  B.) Were the kids too public of figures?  I was concerned that I was exploiting their non-existent privacy by making them such public fodder for my blog.  I don't want to have to pay for expensive pyschotherapy one day because I made them "characters" for my own personal amusement.

Solution: In this day and age, maybe NO kid gets privacy.  These kids in this generation will just have to reconcile themselves to the fact that naked pics of them were posted online WAY before they even had an option of leeking their (hopefully adult) versions.  So, in short?  I've started a "pyschotherapy savings" for each!  College?  Pfffftttt, who needs that?  They're gonna need therapists!

As for the blog's identity?  I knew this was no longer entirely a running blog -- especially after I quit back in January and not a single one of you commented that you'd miss my race reports (it still stings...) -- but I also knew this blog could never qualify for "Mommy Blog" status.  Why not?  Well, the term itself pretty much makes me wanna vomit, but aside from the nausea-inducing label, I am not the sort who fits into "that" category; i.e., I don't think giving kids McNuggets will make them serial killers, I think TV makes for excellent quiet time, and I am highly in favor of candy as a form of bribery.  I don't think my lassiez-faire parenting approach is fit for mommy-blog-dom.

Solution: This is MY blog and I get to blog about whatever the hell I want.  So, I will still talk about running, and dammit, my race reports are stimulating reading!  But, I will also talk plenty of kid talk and further prod your sentimental, gushy cores by posting ruthlessly cute pictures and videos of them.  Of course, on this "mommy blog," what you're gonna get are more likely stories of how Norah caught her hair in the spokes of her bubble gun's mini-fan, or how I found Caleb messing with his dad's electric razor last week. 

Why would I bother feeding these kids organic?  They're just gonna electrocute the nutrients right out of themselves anyway!

So, that's that: This is the "New 21 Days" philosophy and approach to content.  Like it?  Great!

I assume there's no other alternate way you'd respond; this site is rad.  Can't imagine that anyone would argue with that.