Some Important Blog News and Changes

I have some news for you. I wish it were happy and exciting news, but in reality it's the kind of news you put off telling because you hate to disappoint others. What is this all about?

I have decided to discontinue my weekly Make Your Monday link event. I've been thinking about this for a while, and now that I've had some time to consider all the pros and cons, I know that this is the right decision. I know you may wonder why, so I hope my explanation makes sense.

First and foremost, it boils down to a matter of time, or lack thereof. I visit all the links submitted each week, choose a few that really catch my eye {which is hard because there have been

Thank you all so much for your support with all the past Make Your Monday link parties!

so many great projects submitted!}, and post them as highlights each Sunday evening. Because of the volume of all the wonderful links submitted, sometimes this can take me up to 3 or 4 hours - or more! It really is a great problem to have, actually, but I'm afraid that when I honestly look at how much time I have available, there is simply not enough. For this month alone, I will be out of town for the next two Sundays, and who knows what summer will bring.

A secondary reason that I feel that this is a good decision is that there are just so many link parties in our blogging community right now, especially on Mondays. Again, another wonderful downside, but I feel better knowing that those of you who regularly link up to Make Your Monday will have somewhere else to submit your project links. Thank you all so much for your support with all the past Make Your Monday link parties - you made it a great success each and every week!

A Couple More Blog Changes

Within the next couple of months, you may notice a small change here at Twice Remembered. I've decided that after all of the contracts with my fabulous sponsors and other paying advertisers are up, I will no longer be displaying ads in the sidebars of my blog. I wanted to try a sponsorship program to see if it was "me" and though I think it could have worked well from a monetary standpoint, I feel that it isn't a good fit for Twice Remembered. I suppose my point is, I don't want to view my blog as a job where I must worry about and maintain traffic flow and visitor count and readership in order to truly do justice to paying advertisers. I want my blog to be the opposite of a job, in fact. I want Twice Remembered to be a respite of sorts for both visitors and myself.

Within the next couple of months, you may notice a small change here at Twice Remembered.

A simple place of quiet conversation over domestic affairs {and a large part of that happens to be our cottage remodel}. A "home" away from home to visit a couple of times a week, a haven in which to kick off the shoes and have a cup of tea or coffee - a quaint and cozy {tumble-down but slowly improving} place to relax without obligation or expectation. You will still see a few Google text links at the bottom of individual post entries, however not on the main page. I'm not ashamed to admit Google has been my "egg money" for years, a little something that I build over the months for extraneous projects. I've tried to put them in a tasteful, discreet location and I hope you don't mind them.

Just for fun, here are some home related goals for myself - and there is a point to this: cultivate a cottage style garden, grow a kitchen garden, get my business off the ground{!}, clean out and organize the attic, bake more homemade bread and other things to replace store bought versions, prepare better more wholesome school lunches {this has been requiring me to get up at 5:30am...but it's so worth it!}, decorate more cakes, improve my sewing skills, delve into photography a bit more, read more, take better care of myself, learn calligraphy, make room for letter and card writing {I still have to send those postcards out!}, more quality time with the family, make time for crafts, learn needlepoint {I ordered some really beautiful copies of antique patterns!}, have company over more often, and finally have that tea party I want to host for my elderly friends...That is just a partial list which doesn't include our many remodeling projects!

Here are my blog related goals: Do the things listed above, write about my experiences as I have time - once, maybe twice a week. Quality over quantity. Keep it cozy. Keep it quaint. Keep it real. Keep it simple.

In other words, maintain the cottage journal/journey type format that I began with many years ago.

I hope this isn't too disappointing for those that prefer blogs with frequent updates, but I've discovered that I just don't roll well that way. I can't keep up

I'm hoping that visitors here will come to view my entries as letters from an old friend - though not written daily, just as sincere and heartfelt.

that pace, live life, and be the person I want and need to be at the same time. I'm hoping that visitors here will come to view my entries as letters from an old friend - though not written daily, just as sincere and heartfelt. Blogging has opened up a whole new world for many of us, and just like you, I continue to try to find balance between it and actually experiencing life. I need more time to work on the cottage and to do all the things I've listed above, plus time to concentrate on priorities even greater than those listed. I hope you understand. :)

So that's about it - no new Make Your Mondays, no advertising on the main page when ad contracts are up, and once or twice a week blog posts.

Please feel free to share with me your thoughts on blogging and finding just the right balance. I'd love to hear from you!

Speaking of hearing from you, many of you had a few questions regarding my last entry yesterday about our beadboard progress. I will sit down and address those this afternoon {off to read to some second graders and to take my little one to the doctor now!}. Thank you for all your nice comments about our beadboard!



Have a beautiful Friday, everyone!