Quality, Not Quantity

As the chilly weather here in our sleep little town shifts into warm sunshine filled days I'm finding myself wanting to take a huge leap back, away from the confines of my laptop and the comfy-ness of my couch.  I want to run around outside with my boys.  I want to cook on the grill and eat dinner out on the back porch.  I want to spend late nights watching movies and NCIS marathons with my husband and I want to read about a hundred books.  None of those things can be achieved from behind a computer screen.

The Oh Mandie hours of operation are changing.  It's not you friends, it's me.  It's my husband and it's my sons.  It's my need to be more present in their lives and soak up as much time with them all as I can.  Because as awesome as this blog is at preserving memories, I'd like to have certain things ingrained so deep into my mind that I'll never need an aid to remember then by. 

I've been reading over some of my recent posts in an effort to make a list of my favorites (up there on the blog tool bar under Loves if you're interested) and I realized that I've posted a lot of space fillers over the months.  Seriously folks, I'm one step away from doing one of those What's In Amanda's Purse posts .... and really, even though we don't admit it, no one actually likes those.  (Trust me, it's mostly just random receipts anyways)

Some days I wish I could start all over again, back when blogging was more of a way to document our families milestones and adventures and less of the meme/giveaway/sponsorship machine that it's become.  Ahh to know then what I know now.  But such is life.  My goal this year, and subsequently every year to come, is to print out my blog posts into bound documented family history books to pass on to my children, which they can then pass on to their children.  And let's be real, my kids are not going to want to sit down 10 or 20 years from now and read all about how mom edited some picture in photoshop (which I'm sure will be a dead technology by then anyways) or about how she entered some random giveaway (and probably didn't have a chance at winning in the first place).  If that's the kind of blog you want to have, well then more power to you, but as for me, it's just not working anymore and the quality of my posts is becoming more and more reflective of that. 

So I'm making a pledge to myself, and also to you.  From here on out I will post quality over quantity.  Sometimes I may only post one or two times a week, but I can promise that they will be more open, honest, and though provoking then they have been in recent weeks.  I will write for myself and my children, because that's where the quality comes from.  I want to document my thoughts and life struggles so that my boys know my mindset when they were growing up, because let's face it, that's real life.  I'm also going to go back to the sponsor-free days of blogging.  I do this because I love to, not to make money from it.  I'll keep on sharing my loves and hardships and the tales of our family life, but I'm doing it for them and for myself. I will not post something completely contrived just for the sake of posting anymore.  And I hope in doing so we'll all be happier; myself with more time for my family and the means in which is properly document it and you with being able to read inspiring and raw truths about life, faith, family, and motherhood.  Win-Win.