If I Wasn't a Blogger, What Would I Do?

A few weeks ago, around the dinner table, we were having a discussion of some sort. The exact details of the entire conversation are kind of fuzzy, but there's one part that I haven't been able to forget. Which is really quite amazing since I'm really having a "forgetting" problem as of late. Maybe that is a testament to how impressionable it was on me!

So, we're talking about something (here's the fuzzy part).....but it had to do with doing something...like rebuilding a car engine
or reading the complete Twilight series
or getting a Master's Degree
or raising your own pigs
or watching all the Reality T.V. shows
or becoming an astronaut
or being the President
...or something equally as difficult, time-consuming, and unreasonable at this "season" in my life.

OK, so on to the non-fuzzy part.
So, right after we were talking about whatever [it may or may not have been one of the above listed items],
my oldest son, Ryan, who-in-my-opinion-should-know-better-than-to say-this, said, "Mom, you should do that!"
That sort of comment always takes me a little aback, because, are they saying it because they think I'm not valuable enough the way I am, with what I am already doing? Or do they think I do nothing, and they're trying to find me a "hobby?"
Whatever...
I retorted, "Yeah, right, with what time?"
in a tone of voice that was suppose to give off the message of, "You are talking complete nonsense, get a grip on reality, Buddy!" and it would force him to comprehend the error of his comment.
Nope. Apparently, the "tone" failed.
Because he came back (rather quickly, I must add) with, "With all your blogging time!"

And THEN, and then, Matt, after thinking silently for a minute, said, "Yeah."

What? My own husband?

To which I lamely replied, "Blogging replaced my scrapbooking time."

At that point, the conversation was over, but not the thoughts - at least for me!

And what do you do when you can't quit thinking about something? You blog about it, of course.

The reason I know they didn't give it another thought is, because, in order to assist with the details of this post, I asked those male members of my family, the same ones who were involved in this very conversation and offering me alternative life solutions, just what it was we were talking about in the beginning....and they both could only vaguely remember us having any such conversation, let alone the details of what big, fabulous thing I should be doing with my life [in place of my blogging time.]

Why can't boys ever remember what you talk about? I do not get this. Never will! But, that's another post....

I need to say that the comment back at the dinner table rather confused me, because those two guys, especially, really like my our blog. And they really like our family scrapbooks, too. Basically, they've always thought it was cool that I did these things.

Anyway - here's what I've been thinking about, very simply:

Does blogging take too much time?

Not necessarily me making posts, but me reading all your wonderful posts. Just make them a little more uninteresting & despicable and I wouldn't have a hard time giving them up! ;)

But, I like it so much! And that is my reading, I don't read other books & magazines.

I don't think I could give it up for Lent, that's for sure - at least I wouldn't want to! (If I was even Catholic in the first place, which I'm not.)

But, my family's comments linger in my brain.

So, the first thing I decided to do was "clean house." I had a ton of [approx. 20] blogs on my blogroll that I "stalked." I didn't even know these people at all. I'd never met them. They didn't know me. I didn't comment on their blogs. I just made the decision to delete them. That just cut out some "blogging time." - check.

And secondly, lately, in conjunction with a new system cutover at work, I've found myself working A LOT more hours that I'm not used to. And the majority of those hours are in the wee hours of the morning, when not too many customers are dialing up causing our phones to ring off the hook. So, a new idea began to form....What if I decided to NOT read blogs during the day anymore, but what if I could wait to read them during this time, at insane hours, when I'm awake (barely), sitting in front of a computer and not really doing much? It would mean I might be reading things a couple of days late and not be "in the know" all the time, but oh well....

You may have noticed my comments on your blogs lately have some really odd time stamps on them, like between the hours of 1:00 to 4:00 in the morning. NO, that's not a typo, it's when I'm reading them....
...and as a result, using my old "blogging time" to do other things - but, NOT to become an astronaut - yet! :)