Blog Crazy

/

Reading other people's blogs is kind of like sneaking into their room and reading their personal journal. Everyone is curious about other people's lives...hence the popularity of "the blog". I get such enjoyment from all the blogs I read. They offer wisdom, encouragement, camaraderie, laughter. I love to comment on blogs and receive comments too (hint, hint!). If you like reading blogs too, you MUST run to Bloglines and set up an account (thanks Heather!). This saves so much time and is a wonderful service. Basically, you set up one account to "track" all of the blogs you want to read. It will notify you whenever a new blog has been posted by that person. You can even put a little button on your browser that says "Sub to Bloglines" that will let you subscribe quickly to that blog when you are at that page. The blog must have an RSS feed to be included.

I currently subscribe to about 50 blogs...and read about 10 a day as they are updated. Here are some of my favorites:

A Joy-Full Life Two Songbirds on a Wire Dinner at my house...tonight From Under the Laundry Pile Laura's MySpace blog The Shape of a Mother The View from Here Natural Living Des Moines Babycatcher

For the Love of Mail

/

I love mail. Real paper mail. Cards. Postcards. Packages and such. The problem is...we have lost the fine art of correspondence. Letters used to be the only way to "get word" to someone. Then came the telephone. Then came email. Oh the email. Don't get me wrong...I love email too, but there is just something cold, electronic, and impersonal about it. When I go to my mailbox and see a handwritten note, I am GIDDY with excitement. If that letter is 3 pages long with doodles, quotes, verses, a teabag, and such, I am ECSTATIC. You would think I won the lottery. I I know exactly when my mailman arrives everyday. I loooove having my mailbox right on my house so I can grab it quickly! Ninety percent of the time, I recieve junk mail or business mail, but I am blessed to have a few select friends in my life who appreciate the value of a handmade/handwritten note. I love them for that. Their letters need not contain deep thoughts...I just love to hear about the happenings in their daily lives.

When you send real meal, you are basically saying that the person on the other end is worthy of your time. You are putting your feelings onto paper...a permanent expression of your love for them. I have saved many letters over the years...from my dad, my grandma, my sister, my brother, my husband...and everytime I open that letter again, I am transported back to the first time I read those words.

So my challenge for everyone reading this...is to write ONE letter this week. Brighten someone's day, send photos, send goodies, send your love.

More thoughts on letter writing.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user "Living in Monrovia".