Carol | September 19, 2011
Now, I can make myself at home. This is what I call a “Status Update”. You will only see these mini-posts in a reader or in the little box called “Status Updates” at the top center of my website. You can read them all if you click on the“Status Updates” link on my right sidebar, but they don’t show up among the regular blog posts. I just wanted a replacement for Facebook.
Carol | September 8, 2011
I used to be more chatty and personal on my website, but a few years ago, I joined Facebook and started using that forum for the fun stuff (and a little soapboxing). I never felt at home there, but I enjoyed Facebook’s convenient system and the instant feedback of generally gracious friends. I was recently inspired with some ideas for my website that should help me have the comfort of home, with some of the extra touches I like about Facebook. One positive thing is that my status updates will no longer appear in feeds of people who prefer to not hear about my soapbox issues. Anyone who returns to my website, knows exactly what they will get. And I intend to be stronger and more opinionated than ever!
Carol | May 29, 2011
Okay, so I’ve been out of commission for a few weeks. Sorry. I take this “teaching/preaching” platform so seriously that I sometimes worry about the responsibility. Many of my articles need updating and I feel bad if they stay online when I know they need work. I had a change of heart and have now decided to leave the website online even though changes will take months to complete. By the way, all my sites were password protected from EVERYONE – not just you.
Here is my peace offering for shutting you all out of my website. Hope you like it. 
Each baby grows more quickly! This one is already a big kid! Baby GC is still giving us abundant love and joy.
Baby GC playing ~ 8 1/2 months
Carol | April 5, 2011
Baby GC is now seven months old. She crawls anywhere she wants to go. She pulls herself to standing against anything nearby. All my babies have had great freedom during the exploration stage. She knows enough to wave hi and bye. She chatters and babbles. She loves to keep up the “ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah” when I pat her mouth. She makes spitting sounds. She’s been reaching her arms up for other family members to hold her, in addition to me. She has tasted a good many books. Her happiness is sucking her thumb while holding a fistful of my hair. Her smiles are huge and her screeches wild when she plays with the keyboard that we put on the floor for her.
(I almost shut down my website the other day. I don’t update very often. I have so many things on my to-do list! I guess I’ll keep my site online for now. I have so many thoughts and pictures I would like to share with you. It is hard to know what is safe when it comes to posting on the internet. You’d think after blogging for ten years I would have this figured out.)
Carol | December 31, 2010
My computer area in the kitchen with a rarely used (by me)
new video baby monitor and a new mousepad (desk is usually messier)
My Boys and their favorite computer activity (next to World of Warcraft):
Glenn Beck’s Insider Extreme (especially fourth hour with Stu and Pat)
Carol | December 8, 2010
I have been active on Facebook since 2007, but I have never shared my “whole self”. I feared offending my “friends”, so I held back from speaking with my heartfelt passion about politics, parenting, religion, and well, EVERYTHING.
I have been blogging for about nine years, and I have generally kept my internet world and my real life separate. I do NOT like controversy or contention.
At the risk of being hated, and after much contemplation, I have decided to share my website with my real life “friends”. A.S. quoted Andre Gide in her recent status update, “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not.” My website represents me quite well.
You may be interested in visiting here if you are comfortable with my STRONG opinions on MANY issues. I respect that you may completely disagree with some, if not all, of my views and find them extremely annoying. Please don’t hold them against me!
CAUTION: I am Christian, pro-life, pro-freedom, pro-homeschooling, pro-attachment parenting, pro-breastfeeding, small-c-conservative-capitalist-libertarian, anti-vaccination, anti-spanking, anti-cry-it-out, anti-drug, and it gets worse! I love Sarah Palin! *grin*
If you do visit here, please leave a comment now and again!
(Thanks A.S., Leann, and Karen C. for your encouragement.)
My five children:
B12, Baby GC almost 3 months, C9, L6, and N17
Carol | October 16, 2010
There. That should keep you busy reading. 20 new posts on all my favorite topics.
Carol | September 24, 2010
Thanks so much for all your encouraging comments. I don’t know what to do about blogging yet, but maybe I will continue to post some. I am sorry I haven’t replied individually to all your comments and emails, but the only thing that comes to my mind is “Thank you”.
Baby C ~ 3 weeks old
Carol | September 10, 2010
My last post made me realize that hardly anyone outside my family reads my blog anymore. If there are so very few comments about my new baby, then there are obviously very few readers. I still get a couple hundred people landing here daily as a result of searches. They often read several pages, and I still get letters telling me to beat my kids. I realize my blogging has been sporadic and rather poor, mainly because I was sick for the past nine months. I also know that other people don’t like politics as much as I do.
I love to blog, but I have to be certain it has a purpose, and right now, there are only a few choir members, so obviously I’m doing something wrong. I am deeply thankful for the love and support I have felt from my regular readers. Blogging has also brought some delightful people into my life that do not read my blog regularly, but have become close FaceBook friends. I am also thankful for the many, many letters of appreciation and encouragement from readers over the years.
“Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!” Truman
Carol | December 28, 2009
And about 34 posts!! If you can only see some of the photos it is because you aren’t registered. Almost all of the pictures with my children facing the camera are not public. When I changed my website last month, the usernames were accidentally deleted. If you want to read my private posts, please send me your original username, and I will give you a temporary password that you can change. If you were never registered, and would like to be, please send me information about yourself and your family.
Anyway, I am now up to date with my pictures. Yay!
Carol | November 30, 2009
I think I have a Bloglines feed problem, BUT if you depend on Bloglines, then you likely won’t get this! I think you need to unsubscribe and subscribe to the feed again in order to pick up new posts.
Google reader seems to be okay.
Edited to add:
Seems to work now.
Carol | November 30, 2009
At least I hope so…
Let me know if you like the new layout and colors. Tell me if you see errors or if things aren’t running smoothly for you.
I am sorry that all the usernames were deleted. Let me know if you want to see my private posts, and I will add your username and send you a temporary password until you set your own (which I can’t see). I will eventually get caught up with posting family pictures from September through November.
Edited to add:
If you want to have a little picture next to your comments, then sign up with your email address and upload a picture here: http://www.gravatar.com/ Your small picture will then appear on any blog (with that feature) where you make a comment.
Carol | November 6, 2009
I knew I was different. After being active on the web for about the past ten years, I realize I am more unique than I thought. 
Funny about that.
Carol | November 6, 2009
UCLA Study: The Internet Is Altering Our Brains
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568576,00.html?test=latestnews
Carol | October 19, 2009
20 Things I learned in my week without my computer (from Jennifer)
http://www.conversiondiary.com/2009/10/20-things-i-learned-in-my-week-without.html
7. “The internet tempts me to over-value my own opinions (especially micro-communication tools like Twitter and email). This week I caught myself hanging on to every single opinion I had about anything, a habit I’d formed from constantly emailing and tweeting friends with every little thought I had. When I wrote the ideas down on paper to express later by phone or in person, I realized that most of them were pretty inane, things that I would have forgotten about altogether in the days before I had an internet connection.”
13. “Getting on my computer makes it very easy to forget what my goals for the day are. Especially because I have tendencies toward ADD, I go into ‘monkey with shiny object’ mode with all the great, interconnected information available on the internet; I all too easily get sucked in and completely forget what I was trying to accomplish in the day.”
17. “The same force that drives people to slot machines is what drives me to my computer. I realized that when I mindlessly get online, every time I click it’s like pulling the lever on a slot machine and hoping to hit the jackpot. I’m hoping to hit a virtual jackpot — a blog post that changes my life, an email that blows me away, a hilarious video on YouTube, etc. And the truth is that there’s enough stuff online that if I clicked on enough links or spent enough time on email I would get that payoff I’m looking for. But, just like with slot machines, I need to be careful about spending endless amounts of time just sitting around pulling the lever.”
