Meta Blogging (or Blogging about Blogging)

I've been doing some Fall cleaning today! All of a sudden, the 90's are gone and the weather has turned much cooler. The big kids are all back in school and the neighborhood is much quieter during the day. When the seasons change (I know, I know... Fall doesn't officially end for a few more weeks. I'm talking about the cultural seasons. The cultural Summer is over. *Sniff*) I always feel the need to clean things out, change up some colors, rearrange the furniture, etc., etc. So, I've spent a lot of today doing the same in my virtual world. As you may have noticed. :) Among other things, I've been thinking about privacy & security lately. Maybe it has something to do with the continuous discussions regarding privacy on Facebook and this article DKG read on our recent trip. A few months ago, I'd decided it would be best to keep our last name & the Kumquat's first name off the blog. Initially, I'd considered keeping my name & hubby's name off as well, but couldn't think of any sort of clever nickname and eventually just gave up the effort. I'm revisiting the whole privacy thing and have decided to go ahead and take our names off, too. I still haven't come up with any clever nicknames for us that I love, so whatever. In thinking about our Baby Kumquat, I was reflecting on how hubby & I care for her, support her and encourage her growth. That is what this blog is all about, after all. So that makes us gardeners of a sort. Kumquat Gardeners to be exact. I've decided I'll just call us Mama KG & Daddy KG (or DKG for short).

So that's that! And while I'm meta-blogging...
When I started this blog (over 2 years & 120-something posts ago!), it truly was just intended to be an efficient way to keep in touch with family & the friends we were leaving behind when we left Chicago. (And maybe to give me something to do as I looked for a job.) That is still the primary intention, but it's become much more of a hobby than I'd ever imagined. Truly, I thought it would just save me a few emails because I could write any big news here and not worry about who I forgot to email. I do love to write, though, and it's been fun to get back to it a bit. I also always find that the best way for me to sort through my thoughts is to write about them. For some reason (laziness, primarily) the whole journaling thing never worked out well for me. I'd be awesome in spurts, but could never make it a real habit. Blogging has worked out better mostly because I convince myself that there are people out there eager to read a new post. (And I know there are! You family members don't have a choice but to be eager readers! Bwah-ha-ha...) So that keeps me coming back. In turn, I have discovered something I didn't know about myself before I started this. I have a high need for virtual affirmation. :) I ♥ your comments. I check for them obsessively often. I know I have gotten a bit lazy (that comes up often!) about commenting on others' blogs and I'm going to make a more concerted effort to actually type in the comments that are in my head. I hope that if you have comments floating around in your head, then you'll share them as well. No pressure, but I just wanted to let you know that I drink them up. I send pics of Baby K to my family members VERY often and I sometimes wonder if that gets annoying. Do they ever think, "OK, OK, I've got it. Your kid's cute. I know," when they get the 18th pic of the week? My sweet SIL recently reassured me that she doesn't and she's always happy to see the pics. So that's my intention: should you ever think about commenting, I just want you to know that I will savor it.

Enough housekeeping! I actually have 3 new posts in the works, so hopefully I'll give you lots of commenting potential this week. ;)