Tuesday Ramblings

Bloggy Ramblings

I love comments.

It lets me know people are still reading my blog and care about the time and effort I put into it.  THANK YOU!

I have not made money from my blog.  Every once in a while I receive products to review, but usually if I receive a product, the company offers a giveaway for my readers as well.  I did not begin this blog to make money.  I don’t think making money by having a blog is wrong by any means.  As a matter of fact, all the bloggers I have met who do make a living from their blog (bless their hearts) are very hard workers.  They have to work very long hours typing, editing and collaborating with companies and other bloggers.

I initially began Family Brings Joy back in 2008 as a way to share our family life with our family and friends.  It still has that purpose yet it has blossomed into much more.  This blog keeps me connected to the outside world.  Oh how I would have loved to have a blog when my kids were young.  Moms with young children can feel alienated.  Blogging and social media must be a blessing for those moms.  It is also a blessing for this mom.  Living in a remote part of the country with not many friends can be quite lonely.

Still, having a blog is quite time consuming.  And like most people, I like and prefer to be compensated for my time.  However, I don’t like going to blogs and being inundated with ads.  I find them very distracting and frustrating.  This is why I have tried to keep ads at a minimum.  I only share companies who have products I believe in and are family friendly.

DH asked me yesterday when I was going to write another blog post.  I laughed because this past month and a half has been a whirlwind in our lives.  The time just hasn’t been there.  I have to say, a part of me wonders if I should keep blogging.  I’m feeling overwhelmed right now.

Feelings Ramblings

It’s almost like I have put aside all the feelings I should have been feeling and am experiencing them all at the same time right now.  I know, it’s weird.  Probably doesn’t help that my monthly visitor has come.  Sorry if that’s too much information, but come on, we all know about that.  If you are a man, you know about it from being around women and how the hormones can affect us.  If you are a woman, you most certainly know how this time period intensifies everything.

Trip Ramblings

BTW, jet lag sucks.  We returned home Sunday from our daughter’s graduation trip to Maui, Hawaii. {Yes, it was amazing!}  I had no problem adjusting to the 5 hour time difference when we got there.  It’s been the 5 hour time difference since we returned that has been killer.  Not to mention the LACK of sleep on our 7 hour overnight flight we took from Saturday to Sunday.  I will NEVER do that again!  You know you’re a mom when you let your 10 year old child lay their head on your lap on a plane, so they will sleep, even though you’re leg falls asleep and becomes painful so you can’t sleep.  Honestly, unless you don’t mind sleeping sitting up in a very tight and cramped space for hours…I don’t recommend flying overnight on a plane.  My ankles were so swollen after…looked like they did when I was pregnant.  If you can afford to fly first class, then by all means do that if you take an overnight flight which is over 6 hours long.  Those people who flew first class {American Airlines} had seats that completely reclined…almost the size of a twin size bed.  It’s pretty sucky awful to pass first class seats recliners only to sit on the very back of the plane stuffed like sardines.

And don’t get me started on…how do people afford to go to Hawaii!?!?  Oh my goodness it was expensive!  Let me tell you, we’ve been planning this vacation for about 5 years…pretty much when our daughter began high school.  People warned me it was expensive.  Our tickets cost $1000 a piece…that’s $5000 for airfare alone for our family!  I won’t go on my rant about how disgusted I was with the service we received on American Airlines.  I might have to save that for another blog post.  So our food bill probably almost cost the same as our airfare.  The food at the grocery store and at the restaurants was outrageous!  Don’t get me wrong, the food was delicious and amazing, but how do families afford to vacation to Hawaii?

I overheard someone saying they knew someone who spent their whole life’s savings account visiting Hawaii.  I believe it!

If you don’t want to go into debt by vacationing there, then you better start saving your money.  We met a sweet couple while we were in the ocean who did not give each other gifts for two years for every holiday so they would have the money to go.  So SMART!  They left their kids at home…lol.  They had already spent a week in Oahu and were now spending a week in Maui.  That’s definitely the way to go!  Very smart of them to save money for the trip instead of giving gifts.  A family should do that as well.  I could see myself wrapping up a photo of a para sailing brochure to give to the kids for Christmas.  That way they know the money from their gift was going to something awesome to look forward to.

Anyway, I am rambling.  Time to get some work done.  I’ll have to begin sharing some photos from our trip to Maui with you tomorrow for “Wordless Wednesday.”  If you can’t wait until tomorrow to see photos, I have 26 trip photos posted on Instagram.  My Instagram user name is @familybringsjoy.  Love my Instagram peeps!  It’s killing me to again be posting another post WITHOUT photos.  But, it’s either post it without or not at all.  This writing was probably more for me than you.  Since I’m such a visual person I don’t always read posts without photos…gasp!…I’m sharing secrets with you.  So if you are like me, then I don’t expect too many readers or comments.  No worries!  If you did read this, well bless you.  You’re pretty dang awesome!

P.S.: This post took 2 hours to write and that’s without any photos. Granted, I am a mom and needed to do mom stuff during this time period.  Just a FYI

Aloha,