If you’ve been following the Homemaking for Girls Series, you might have noticed something is a little off. I intended to post daily in May, but I haven’t actually been doing that. Instead, I’ve been getting posts in as I can. We’ll still be having 30+posts on Homemaking for Girls, but they’re not going to be delivered as seamlessly as I’d hoped.
I thought I might just squeak by without anyone noticing, but that doesn’t feel honest. And while I doubt that the majority of you would even notice, I am thinking of the lone one or two that might be wondering, What the heck?
But my regular peeps probably aren’t surprised. (I can hear you now: “Oh honey, we saw this one coming. 30 Days in a row? Puh-lease!”)
The truth if it is, Homegrown Mom is an active, exciting, wonderful part of my life that feeds my creative spirit and is a big part of what I consider my ministry.
However, my first and foremost ministry is my family. I don’t always do the greatest job of balancing the two, and if I’m going to err, I try to err on the side of neglecting the blog as opposed to the other way around. And let me be clear, sometimes it is the other way around. I screw up both ways.
If you know me and love me, then you know I am not one of those supermom bloggers that can rise before dawn, work from home, homeschool my kids, run all the errands, attend all the activities, keep my house sparkling, and plop a loaf of homemade bread on the table at the end of the day, to boot.
And I am fine with this. I gave up that dream ages ago. (Though I still somehow manage to work it out on paper occasionally. What’s up with that?) What I’m not fine with is putting something out there and not following through. So, please buy into it when I say, in my own little flaky way, this is still a 30 day series.
Just not necessarily 30 Days in a row. Wink, wink.
Three things I’ve learned this month:
1. If I ever decide to do a series again, I shall make sure I have all the content written and posted and scheduled to go out before I announce the series. Ahem.
2. Accepting guests posts is a lot more work than I realized. Kudos to those of you who run group blogs. I. could. never. The email, the email… how do you do it?
3. I really, really love my readers. Someday, all of you are going to wake up and realize I am not a professional and I have no business doing this bloggy thing. Until that day comes, I am blissfully happy to have you all here humoring me. And yes, I realize blissfully happy is somewhat redundant. But sometimes the truth is.
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This is the next book on my wishlist: Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
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Angela.. you are doing what you are supposed to be doing… good job Mom! That books sounds interesting.. will have to look it up 🙂
Thank you dear friend 🙂 I read this awhile ago, then I got totally distracted looking at all your scrapbooking pages. Such goodness! Your kids are going to be so blessed to have all those beautifully preserved memories 🙂
And, I’ll let you know about the book, I want to read it aloud next year 😉
You are being too hard on yourself. Don’t sweat the small stuff. You are doing a great job.
Your blog is beautiful and a fun place to visit, as I imagine your real-life home is too!
I have been enjoying the posts as they come in, and while I had *some* idea of a 30-day series, I was thinking it was ME who had missed some things. SO, we’re both just fine, per your “confession” this morning! I haven’t missed a thing!
…and there’s comfort in knowing I’m not the only one who can’t get something done 30 days in a row.
🙂
Happy mommying! It really IS the best!
~april
Thank you for the compliments, April, and for visiting my online “home” 🙂
I have to say, I just found your blog yesterday, and I LOVE it!!! I was reading it last night, and I didn’t want to stop!! I found so many of your past posts that I need right now. So I decided, when reading one about rewarding yourself for getting housework done, that my reward will be being able to sit down and read the categories that I found last night from start to finish. I am so excited to read them all!!!
Please don’t be hard on yourself for not getting the posts in 30 days in a row. I don’t know how any of you guys that blog do it, plus all the other stuff you do. I am struggling getting my house out of CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome, from FlyLady)!!! I am so glad we are done with school, and I pray that I can break my bad habits and build new ones before we start school again in Aug. That is my summer goal! And I am so excited to use your writings to help me and to help me teach my daughter!
Thank you for the time you put in, no matter how often or in a row! 😉
(Sorry for the long post!)
Thank you, Tara, this made my day 🙂 What a blessing to read these words from you!
I prayed right now that you would have a fruitful and productive summer, with lots of rest and enjoyment in there, too!
I really appreciate the opportunity to take part in your 30 days series….no matter when those 30 days take place!
I think bloggers who write about the importance of family and homemaking, yet don’t make it a priority in their life are frauds. Of course we are all human and make mistakes. I go through times where I wrongly neglect my family for my blog too. Thing is, we should not consistently neglect them.
You are doing a wonderful job here at Homegrown Mom. It is a ministry and you are doing well!
I’m so with you! I have two blogs, one for family, and one for devotions/worship/poetry/prayer. I have a great plan, and great link-ups, and great community, and great subscribers, and the best intentions, but very little time, and like you, do family first!
I think that the pressure to blog every day is something to really evaluate. Personally, I appreciate a blog that is less frequent, but high quality. I’m too busy to read all the blogs I follow everyday, and do what I need to do for me and my family. I think other women are the same way, so I just try to make it a great post, when I post. (Although I STILL would like to be more intentional with my blogging.) LOL
Keep up the GREAT work that you do, when you can!
You’re so right, posting every day is just not for me at this time in my life. And I can never seem to get around reading all the ones that do, either. Thanks for the nice words, Sara 🙂
Look forward to reading that book.This sounds interesting.Don’t be hard on yourself for not getting the posts in 30 days in a row,my friend.
I was kind of surprised when I didn’t see an update daily, but then I was relieved to think that your life might be a little like mine.
I love reading your blogs whenever they appear. Keep up the good work!
“then I was relieved to think that your life might be a little like mine.”
I think this might be my favorite comment ever 🙂
You know, I did kind of wonder how you were going to pull that one off. As a mother, homeschooler and homemaker first and blogger second (or third or fourth – somewhere down on the list) I understand very much the desire to do it all so well and then realize I just can’t do that much.
I agree with what Alana says. When you come clean like this – that you are a homemaker first (on a homemaking blog!) we all breathe a sigh of relief and feel we can trust you.
PS. I hadn’t noticed you weren’t posting every day. I’m too busy living my own life to read blogs that religiously.
YOu’re doing a great job Angela. Thanks for sharing from your heart.
It’s so funny, I felt very sheepish when posting this, but after reading all the comments I’m glad I did because apparently, I’m not the only one who feels this way! I’ll happily be the poster girl for not being able to do it all 😉
It is good for us to know we are not the only ones who can’t do all we plan to. Thanks for being a great example of keeping first things first!
Running a blog is definitely harder than it looks. I think you are doing a great job at the moment, dont beat yourself up over the fact you are not doing what you had planned to do in your head, i’m sure we all understand, and we appreciate when you do post!
Love your honesty. Love your priorities. And I’m so glad that I happened upon your blog today! 🙂
~Laurie
And…I’m no help! My guest post is coming to you soon!
Ok, where to start.
First, today, I totally thought of your number 1 before I even read it!!!!!! Mmm hmmm, I’m doing a 31 day series (Mon-Fri) but have still found it extremely challenging to keep up.
Second, your number 2 does not give me warm fuzzies. I’m planning to open a contributor based blog in the Fall!! {Ironically, it’s on homemaking}.
Finally, I have that book but haven’t read it yet. Maybe we can do a book club in the future??! Hmmmm…{wink}
I totally understand how you feel. Some of my posts in the 31 Days to Clean series have merely been “reminders” to read and do the challenges. I agree, for the future, I want all my posts completed and ready to go! 🙂
Oh no on #2… I’m sure you’ll do better at it than I do 🙂 If you’re doing it regularly, you can probably streamline it quite a bit.
Here’s to creating the content before we start to post about a series next time! *Cheers*
Good post. This is a very nice blog that I will definitively come back to more times this year! Thanks for informative post. I am sure this post has helped me save many hours of browsing other similar posts just to find what I was looking for. I just want to say: Thank you!
Angela,
Thank you for “coming clean” and not to point out how your 30 day series is running longer than a regular 30 day cycle (kind of like how the last five minutes in a football game magically turn into 15+ minutes 🙂 ), but because of your honesty and a fact that so many of us need to face; we can’t do everything. Since that is the case, we need to give attention to the priorities in our life and family really should be first. I’ve been guilty lately of trying to do it all and it might be why my life is a little jumbled right now because my list of stuff to do is so long w/my family squeezed in there somewhere.
Actually, having the posts in the series go live every few days has been good for me because I get a chance to read and enjoy them rather than trying to play “catch up.” I also want to thank you for allowing me to be a guest writer for this series.
We’ll take you flaky. I mean really…what mommy isn’t just a little bit flaky?
I love your football analogy! Thanks for the kind words, and for contributing 🙂
Oh hon… I noticed. And then I smiled. There are still posts I “promised” to do years ago that will truly never get done. What’s the point now. It felt good to know that I’m not alone. 🙂 After the first couple days missed I figured either I missed something and misunderstood, or that life happened. I’m thrilled to hear it was the latter! 🙂 Enjoy that life. Blogs don’t go anywhere!
Blogs don’t go anywhere… so true! I love this line!
OH… and it’s been great to have it stretched out for me too. I’ve given up regular blog reading across the board lately! That’s one way my life took over. It’s nice that I’m not missing this series. Much easier to justify reading every once and a while and now I’m not missing anything!
and the readers love you, Angela 🙂 this is great post! just keep doing what you do and be yourself!
Hey!
I found your blog the other day and am already in love with it!
Angela,
I’ve traveled down that blogging path before and been burned out too. Being a mom has always been my top priority and I’m glad to see I’m not the only one to choose life over blogging.
Diana
I love reading homemaking blogs, but I always have to remind my usually self-critical soul that all of these beautiful, clean houses and beautifully dressed homemakers are not perfect, just posting about their best efforts in order to encourage me, not to make me feel discouraged. So, I too, thank you for just being who you are. It makes what you say so much more credible. I’m unable to read daily, so I am glad to have things spaced out a bit more. Otherwise, it’s just hard to keep up. Thanks for the series – whenever it comes!
I’m liking this series. You inspired me to make cinnamon rolls with two of our younger girls. Thank you.
You are doing the right thing by keeping your priorities straight. Blogging can be a valuable ministry, but you’re right our first ministry are the ones God has put into our homes.
Blessings to you.
Oh my. I had to laugh. I just went through every post on my blog (to categorize more appropriately) and I found at least three posts that are very similar to this one here. I think our hearts are just so full of what we want to share that we just try to put it all out there at once. The thing I’ve learned is that my blog will grow at whatever pace I set for it but my family won’t. They will grow with or without me. I have taken months off at a time and loved every moment of it even though my stats and subscribers dropped a lot more than I would have liked. With that said I have finally found my groove with blogging and already I am seeing everything pick back up again. Everything has a season…
btw… I did a 30 day {Online Ministry Heart Matters} series back in January. MmmHmm. It turned out to be 26 days. After promising posts and not coming through with them, when I was approached about participating in this 30 day thing I agreed but only because I had four months to do the 30 posts. I managed to get 26 of them scheduled in that four months and thought that over the course of 30 days I could write four more. Ha! I still need to sit down and crank out those last four.
I typed all of that to convey this: (((BIG hug))) You rock, girlie.
You can schedule posts, but it doesn’t have to be exact! Take your time and make the posts quality rather than timely. 🙂
Hey Dear!
You are doing a great job by preaching us about homemaking and the family values.I really admire and appreciate you thoughts,I have found your blog really interesting because i am a much more homely person.I love to read such kind of good contents.You are targeting towards a major and important portion of a human life.And i must say your experiences of life are so clear and loud as i can hear them very clear.I wanna be frequent with your blog from now.
Thank you and God Bless
You will scheduling posts will be your new friend. It will rid of those days when ‘something comes up’ and puts off your blogging till another day.Also you will feel more organized.Your site show how well you have been doing so keep up the great work.:)
I remmeber the shows but I remmeber the people more. We had a lot of great times there and where ever the staff ended up after.Foleys yacht club staff houses!!But I think my favoite shows there were probably Tesla playing acoustic at Necco Place or Warrant & D’Molls in the big room. Best day for me (birth of my son) worst day for the Channel family December 30, 1991.Miss you guys!!!
I’m so glad that the internet allows free info like this!
The only time I planned a series of posts I decided to write all 10 posts before publishing them. I still only got as far as number 6! I gave up on series there and then.
It is true that family should be a top priority before anything else. And you got nice blog too. I didn’t know that accepting guest post is a lot more work since I haven’t tried it. Thanks for the interesting post.
Families, whatever happen is still our families…Thanks for the inspiring post…
I know exactly what you mean about balancing family and your blog. My take is that I always put family first, because the blog will still be there when I have the time to come back to it.
I appreciate your honesty! You do know if ever wind up balancing all sides of your life, you will be the first person to ever do so, lol!
I am amazed to see so good balance in your life. you are super MOM!
It is not easy to balance two jobs such as being a mother and a blogger at the same time. I don’t think that you screw both ways since you seem a wonderful mom and you got an awesome blog. It is interesting to read what kind of things you learn in a month especially loving your readers and make sure to have all the content written and posted and scheduled to go out before announcing series. I also haven’t tried guest posts since I could imagine that I have more things to consider first. Thanks for sharing the nice article.
Really cool mother.balacing both family n work.
Super cool mom..
You are wonderful mom and I respect your decision. I have read many of your posts and found them useful. It would be great even if you share your experience at different intervals. We are always ready to read your views and ideas
I am also a mother of 2 kids, after reading your blog I was inspired and I can feel that I will also be able to manage 2 jobs simultaneously like you. This blog is a wonderful inspiration for those women, who are dedicated and want to get success in their life along with family. Thanks for sharing your views.
Thank you for loving all your ardent readers like me. You are providing good information for all the women out there but you also deserve a break. That would be a good break for you. Hope to see you soon!
You are wonderful mom and I respect your decision. I have read many of your posts and found them useful. It would be great even if you share your experience at different intervals. We are always ready to read your views and ideas.
I really admire how you handle your time.. I know it is so hard.. Looking forward on the book! streaming tv
I am happy since no matter how busy you are being a mom, you still have the time to write this amazing post. What you are doing is an inspiration to all moms who wants to work at home. Thank you and I hope you continue on posting.
I’m loving your heart! Thank you for writing. Come on over to my blog at http://www.angelablycker.wordpress.com
Are you still writing? I found you through pinterest and i was looking forward to reading you more! I hope you’ve had a wonderful christmas. I don’t know if you’re on Twitter, but if you are, drop me a tweet (@goannatree)or email me, I’d love to chat!
We readers love you too! Keep up the good work and we’ll continue supporting you. What’s your next series by the way?
Can’t wait to read them!
-Shannon
https://www.brainalley.com
We’d love to hear more… Are you still writing?? You’re inspirational!! Thank you!
rather cool, cheers for that
meh. average post at best.
while I was thinking of things to put in a gift basket for my girlfriend my friend advised me to give her chocolates he said that chocolates make a person happy when I researched little bit I came to know a new thing that phenylethylamine is found in chocolate….
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