Bring out your dead?

Let me see if I can breath some new life into this nearly extinct blogspot. About two months ago, I began to hear a faint protest, “I'm not dead, yet...” Yes, indeed, it was my blog that a while back I had thrown on the plague cart. Do I even try to revive it? There are so many diseases that could yet kill it, and I don't know that I can take another failed attempt. The voice keeps getting louder though, and what can I say? I want to try.

In an effort to be more thoughtful about the commitments in my life, I wrote out a personal “pros-and-cons” list for keeping a blog. The idea of it appeals to me as a journalist (by training), but it intimidates me as a wife and mother (by God's wonderful providence). Where would I find the time? Well, I don't know the answer to that, but here goes anyhow. I've found that the more I have to do in a day, the more I get done. My inborn laziness is mitigated by the sheer number of things I have before me each day. Maybe having the goal of blogging each night will motivate me to get dinner on the table sooner. And hey, that'd be worth it whether or not I blog. So, for your viewing pleasure (as I'm sure you're hanging on my every incoherent word), I decided to post my list. I think I had already decided to blog before I even started the list, but it made me feel good that I came up with more pros than cons. Or maybe my "cons list" was short because I had already decided. Okay, sometimes thinking too much is not good...for the blissful peace of mind that comes from ignorance anyway.

Benefits of blogging:
-Inform friends and family of our goings-on
-Monitor current events
-Get in the habit of crafting informed opinions
-Share and glean interesting facts and helpful information
-Have fun
-Develop creativity

Downside of blogging:
-Time
-Peer pressure ("everyone else is doing it")
-Less private and personal form of communication

Closing remarks:

There is no way I can go back and recap the past year in the Shipp household, so I won't even try. Although, I might let pictures fill in a few of the holes including the arrival of our daughter, Nora.

Amy Koons is my blogging inspiration. She doesn't know that. In fact, I haven't talked to her in over a year, maybe two. She has a nice mix of personal updates with relevant, thoughtful entries. I'll see her this weekend, and I don't think I could hold up my head in her presence if I didn't make an attempt to blog again ;-)