You may have noticed I’ve been a little quiet recently. Firstly we had our trip at half term which has taken a little bit to get over if I’m honest! Then the recent snow meant that the children were off school for some extra days, which was lovely, (although we missed my Oma’s 85th birthday as our flight was cancelled!) and so we were busy sledging and thawing out with hot chocolates, but I’ve also felt the need to step away from the blog a little and just reconnect with my family.
People outside of the blogging world are always surprised to hear how many hours really go into blogging. Not the actual typing up of the thoughts in my brain but everything that comes with it. If it’s a review post, it’s planning the photos, taking them and then editing, it’s making sure that all your keywords are in place so that your post appears in a search for the product and doesn’t just plummet to the bottom of the internet like a digital stone. Something I’ve been trying to get better at is editing the alt tags on my photos to give a description of what the photo is of to make reading my blog better for anyone that is visually impaired, (this is something I’m still working on and trying to go back and edit historic posts which is taking quite a long time as I have been writing a long time now!), setting the image you want to go with the post, getting it set up to share to social media etc etc.
Then, getting it’s own paragraph, is social media! Oh the time that takes, it really is quite scary! I try my best to reply to everyone on there but it can be difficult and I usually find that at least one of my channels is being neglected, at the moment it’s twitter, sorry! You need different content for each platform and so it ends up being three different subjects, three different conversations, three different balls to juggle.
I’m also walking this furry beastie an hour a day so we get a lovely peaceful few hours of this instead of the house being wrecked!
Now I’m not complaining, believe me I’m not, I love blogging and I feel so lucky that I can do something I enjoy so much and it brings me so many amazing experiences and even good money. Sometimes I just come to the realisation that I am needed at home a little more and luckily this gives me the freedom to be able to do that.
For a start we have no socks in anyone’s drawers! 🙂
So a mini life update for you!
Today is Barnaby’s birthday! According to his passport, today he is one. Although that’s a best guesstimate as he is a rescue. He has celebrated so far by eating out of the cat tray and farting so much that I think the postman thought we had a dead body in the house!!! We are still settling into life with him, (read more about his antics here!) but he is settling down a lot!
I still have two great competitions running, one for £30 of very cool (but super reasonable!) clothing label Joanie vouchers and the other for one of three personalised books where your child can choose outcomes in a story on an app, even drawing their own sections and then have it printed off as an actual real book!
I joined a well known slimming club recently and am finding meal planning tricky and if I’m honest, dead boring! I’m only 9 days in but boy, I miss butter, cheese and bread. And cake. A lot. I have lost 3.5lbs though. Apparently this is a good start. I’m not enjoying the recommended sweet treat replacements much as I’m really not a fan of the taste of artificial sweetners. I just need to keep thinking of how I will look after.
Very excitingly I have been featured in Blogosphere magazine. Danielle from Someone’s Mum choose me as one of her favourite parent bloggers and I’m so flattered!
The other thing taking up oodles of my time at the moment is the Cotswold Blogger Awards. We have been so busy securing prizes for the winners to be, we have an amazing venue, Babel in Cheltenham, and it’s so exciting but we are really putting in the hours!Â
Well, that’s all I have for you for the moment! You can find me being a little more active on facebook and here:
It is amazing how much time is involved with blogging not many people get it if they don’t do blogging. Sometimes it is good to have quiet moments and a rest X #bigpinklink
Happy Birthday Barnaby!! We’d love to have you join us on Instagram using #ShankYouPets! It’s a community just for your furry friends. #bigpinklink
It’s so nice to take a step back from things and just think about the family. The time just flies by! #bigpinklink
So pleased Barnaby is settling in, calming down and becoming part of the family. He really is a beautiful boy. Give him a cuddle from me!
Sounds like you are handling it all like a champ! We have had a few snow days here as well. Another one coming tomorrow. Changes up the plan a bit but we are women right….we adjust! #bigpinlink
Wow, you have been very busy for someone who is taking a bit of time out! I totally agree that blogging can be so time consuming and social media is a whole extra job all of its own. But it’s so good to just log off and live life for a bit every now and again. I always think the gaps on my google photos show the happiest times. Your photos on this post look fantastic by the way and good look with your awards you are organising – what a task! Also good luck with the diet. I feel your pain there. Have you tried cashew nut butter for a sweet treat? It’s expesnive and I expect diet police are against it as it is high fat, but it is good fat and delicious. #pinkpearbear
I meant #bigpinklink of course! Oops!
Oh gosh it sounds like you’ve been super busy. Hope you’re all recovered after half term!
#bigpinklink
I had no idea how much time went into blogging until I started and mine is minuscule compared to yours. Congratulations for making such a success of it though, I love reading it.
#bigpinklink
It’s definitely one of those jobs that people don’t understand unless they do it themselves. In fact i do it and i’m not sure I even understand what I do! #bigpinklink
I’ve just got back into blogging again and really had forgotten how much time it takes, and I didn’t realise how much I missed it. Walking your dog sounds like bliss! #BigPinkLink
Breaks are important! We need to reconnect. Hope you had lovely bday celebrations too x #bigpinklink
I totally get it. Blogging is all consuming and it’s important to have time with family. #bigpinklink
I totally understand this, so many people have no idea what goes into blogging. There is no switch off some days, I really have to make a conscious effort to try and put down my phone and take that time for me, and for our family too. I hate that some days. #bigpinklink