I don't know if you noticed but

I took my blog  down for a couple of days earlier this week.  I've been thinking about this little blog a lot lately and what its purpose is.  (I do this about once a year or so.  LOL)

I've tried and tried to define it.  And I'll go for a little while in one direction, and I'll really like it, and then, suddenly, it all of sudden doesn't feel right.  Or I'll get all ambitious and say that I'm going to do something every day for the next X amounts of days, and I'll make it about four days and then something will happen, and I don't finish it. 

Or I'll only talk about simply living for awhile.  Or I'll only talk about my family for awhile.  Or I'll only talk about myself and my past for awhile. 

When I had it down, I was trying to decide if I even wanted to blog anymore.  And if I did, why was I doing it? Was I doing it for myself - as a record of our journey to live a more simple life? And if that was it, why was the blog public? So maybe I was trying to show how others could live a more simple life? But I knew I really wasn't doing that on this blog.  It's never really been a blog full of tutorial/how-to's/recipes/checklists, etc.  Maybe it was a photo album of sorts - things that I like to do, and pictures of the Simple Kids.  But if that was it, what about all the other posts? And again, why was it public?

And so I decided a few things in the past few days.  Mostly, the blog is going to stay the same.  But I am going to try and keep it a LITTLE more focused on our simple journey. LOTS less about my past, unless it really makes sense to add to something about our simple journey. And a LOT more pictures - pictures of all of us, doing what we do on a daily basis to live that simple life.  (And no, we still don't have a new camera, so I'll just have to take more and eventually get decent ones.  Hopefully sometime this summer I'll get a new camera.  Any recommendations for a good camera under $300?) Over the summer, I'll probably do some tweaking of the blog and move some of the more "personal" posts over to a private blog. 

And those checklists and tutorials and recipes? The things to help others live a more simple life that don't usually make it over here? Well, they'll show up somewhere - specifically, on my Simply Living In The City blog. 

I'm also adding some pages to this blog (they are still under construction, but hopefully will be ready by May 1st.) I'll have links to an About page, a Booklist page, Things that I like, and a Contact page.

And I'm going to try and write more.  I'm not going to promise anything specific - I think I've finally learned my lesson on that one.  But more.  More posts a month and just more regularly in general. 

I am going to keep it "real" though, at least on how we live are living our life.  We have changed a LOT over the past almost four years that I've been blogging here in terms of how we live a simple life.  We eat a lot more whole food, we garden.  I bake bread and make yogurt and butter.  I crochet often.  I make soap.  I don't see things changing so that we always do these things.  My goal is MORE.

BUT my kids watch Netflix sometimes.  We eat packaged food occasionally.  One of my children eats cold cereal on a pretty regular basis.  We still have two cars, and while we bike more than we used to, we use our cars as our primary mode of transportation.  I have and use my dishwasher.  I have and use my clothes dryer.  I don't see things changing that we never do these things.  My goal is LESS. 

So there it is.  Basically, the blog is going to be about me and my family Simply Living and Simply Loving.  Maybe that should be my blog title? LOL