Sunday, March 21, 2010

The usefulness of blogging

Mostly, if I take the time to read back on my blog, I find it all seems like self-indulgent rambling. Of course, that's what most blogs are, right? I've convinced myself it's alright for a blog to be self-indulgent, since it is after all, my blog.

BUT I have discovered on several occasions how really glad I am that I have documented certain things.

For instance, when I'm scrapbooking, and I find a picture and know there was some reason I took it but can't remember what that reason is... I can usually find it on my blog. I've printed whole blogs and added them to the scrapbooks, little details and stories I can't remember a couple of months later when I finally sit down to scrapbook the photos. This blog about Chloe's silky nightgown is one that comes to mind, where I just printed the words right out and stuck them on the page next to some photos of her.

The other great reason for blogging is that I have detailed notes of things in the garden. For instance, in this post from March 20, 2009, I can see that my daffodils were blooming. I now feel slighted because my daffodils are definitely NOT blooming that early this year.

I can look back and see when our first spinach harvest was, how high the peas were at different intervals, and what month it was that we ate our first salad straight from the garden.

Lots of gardeners keep detailed records. I do have some records, particularly of the harvested amounts and the amounts put by for winter, but nothing as detailed as what I ended up finding in my blog, when I was looking for it.

So I'm gonna keep up with the self-indulgent rambling about my garden, and silly family stories, so if for nothing else, I can look back on them a year or two later and smile.

---

The girls were playing outside, with very specific instructions to Stay Out of the Mud! And so I look over, and there is my two year old, up to her elbows in mud. "Hey!" I call. "I thought I told you not to play in the mud!" She looks up and answers, "Not playin' mud, Mom. Playin' dirt. And water."
Heh. Gotta love the logic of a two year old. She makes me smile.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking that it's a good sanity tool for a mamma-- finding the cute things to write down and remember... if I weren't overwhelmed w/ my computer quota already, I think I'd add a blog for parenting and baby-isms. For now, yours makes me smile-- thank you!

Wendy said...

I've found my blog to be helpful when looking for an old photo of something.

I did think it was very egocentric/self-indulgent to keep a blog as well, but after starting, it is still ultimately me-centered, but definitely not what I originally thought it sounded like.

I love your stories - everything you write is fab!

oh, I'm sure you know this, but there are sites/vendors that will print and bind your whole blog (like every post).

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog?

Julie said...

Anonymous - that would be fine, please feel free to link back! Thanks for reading. :-)

Anonymous said...

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog.

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