RIP Google Reader, The State of my Blogging Now

So, Google Reader is gone, as of today. It's another nail in the blogging coffin. I actually really like Feedly, and I managed to really clean up my reader feeds. So many bloggers are gone from when I started my blog (in 2007-old school). I wonder what many of those people are up to now. Many of them felt like friends, but did I get any contact information? No, too scary. Many blogs that were small when I started following are big now, it's odd what makes it and what doesn't. Most of the really honest ones are gone now. Of course there are exceptions to that, too.

This blog is still here. It's held together by the very odd posts, and random thoughts and photographs, it's not what it once was, the duct tape of words and pictures but it's here. I think I'll always be writing, whether here or to myself. It's still fun and a release, mainly because I stopped taking it seriously.

So 6 years and almost 500 posts later, I'm still trucking isn't that what they say-keep on trucking?. Thanks for following along.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened Review

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) By Jenny Lawson (aka, the Bloggess) is just as silly, fun and goofy as her blog. I enjoyed every moment of reading this memoir. In fact, often while reading this, I was asked "what is so funny?" by my family. I also was offended, but only mildly so which I'm sure she would consider a win. Some of the stories were so unbelieveable but she had picture to make them up.This book was not only funny, but it had a lot of heart. Caution: the story about Hailey's Birth/Barnaby Jones Pickles are quite tearjerkers, even though they are funny. Also caution: lots of information about taxidermy/ animal parts are in these books. Even though it is presented in a funny way, I did feel squeamish at times. I am kind of a wimp, though- I almost passed out yesterday when Mr. B cut his hand and there was blood.

Disclaimer: after you read this book you will find your inner monologue begins to sound like Jenny's, or at least what I imagine it sounds like.

You can join the discussion about this hilarious memoir at Blogher.


This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own

Missing

photo © 2007 rachaelvoorhees | more info (via: Wylio)
I am missing out.

I have been missing writing posts, checking up with friends, and reading blogs. I've been missing it tremendously. Honestly I just don't have any time  or energy to even think up anything witty or clever to say. That makes me sad. My job is kind of sucking the life out of me.

I miss me.

It's been really hard. I can't really find much joy in anything right now. I have a few moments with the family, but I am so all consumed by my job and thoughts of my job, I can't concentrate on anything outside of that right now. I have not been a good Mom. I've barely been an "okay" Mom, and I've been a nonexistent Wife. I've been a selfish Friend. I've been a bitchy Daughter*. Which only means one thing...

I've been an asshat of a Blogger.

I'm sorry, I hate these whiny posts too. I just want people to understand why I've been away. I don't want to be away, but I definitely don't want to be such a damn whiner in every post. So I'm going to try... try and get back to that happy place, at least here. This blog can be my corner of happy. I don't normally need any cheerleaders rooting me on... but if you want to root, it might help.

For now... I will have to come up with my little bit of happy. A reminder:

Sometimes I forget I have a lot to be happy about. Silver lining, right? I'm working on it.

* I will say I have been a good sister, merely for the fact that my sister and I can commiserate together.

Unable

I hate these kind of posts, yet here I go with it, the statement I read on so many blogs:

Lately I have been unable to write.

My worrying seems to want to eat me up, and I can't seem to have the happiness here; it's on reserve for my family and friends. It's been tough lately, and I'm not sure why. Maybe the Holiday cheer finally chewed me up and spit me out and now I am just kind of bitter. Tired and bitter. Tired, bitter and grumpy. (Are bitter and grumpy the same thing? Is one mutually exclusive of  the other?)


Sorry for that.

I'm trying to work on getting my mojo back, and get some year end posts done, and work on my New Blog and my giveaway (ends tomorrow- go over there now).

Also, please think good thoughts for my Mom, as she is having surgery on her other rotator cuff on her right arm today and will need physical therapy and months of recovery.

Mama Tomato says to the Baby Tomato

Don't mind me, I'm still playing "ketchup" around here. I had such a great SITS day, and recieved so many comments and I want to give thoughtful response to all of them. I will be back to the previously scheduled programming soon. In the meantime, feast your eyes on the cutest picture of both boys ever. Their school pictures all turned out amazing and now I have the horrifying task of figuring out which picture to give to whom. It's a curse having such beautiful boys, I tell ya!

Welcome!

Welcome to all the visiting SITStas! If you aren't familiar with SITS, it is a great program for bloggers to support other bloggers. It's a great way to find new blogs, and possibly meet a friend in the process.

My name is Janna, and I am a Mom of two of the sweetest and most frustrating boys, Drew and Jacob (or as I sometimes refer to him, Mr. Calamity) and wife to an awesome husband, Mr. Bee. I love my life most of the time, but I'm someone that will vent on her blog. I hope you can laugh along with me at life's silly little imperfections. I can be quite silly or raunchy and sometimes I swear. Just a warning. I tend to write about whatever topic comes to mind, but often it is about parenting and my children, or sometimes I like to write about silly pop culture news.

Now for some gratuitous pictures of my boys:

Drew is 4 1/2.
Jacob turned 2 last month.

I have been blogging since 2006 and consequently have way too many a lot of posts, so I had such a hard time picking out three posts that best represented my blog. I hope you like the ones I picked. If you like them, and want to read more of my favorite posts, go ahead and look in My Favorite Posts tab for more. Also, if you are interested in finding more good reads, check out my Blog Roll! I also have a tab for items related to Pop Culture or Entertainment Posts, Photography Related Posts and Posts about my two boys, Jacob and Drew. You can find out more about me on my About Me tab. Here are my three posts:

Geeks Are Underrated

I Know I'm a Mom Because...

The Secret Eating Habits of the Bees

Thanks for coming to visit.... let me leave you with a picture of what I would have baked if you were coming to visit my house... oh, who am I kidding, I don't bake. You would have gotten Chips Ahoy.

Heck, I didn't even take the picture, this person did:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dongkwan/ / CC BY 2.0

Hmm... that picture is making me hungry... I'm off to go eat some of my children's Halloween candy!

My Google Reader Taunts Me

No matter how hard I try to keep up, I can't keep up with my Google Reader. I hate leaving any job unfinished, I do, but I just think I am fighting a losing battle. I don't know how so many people have so much to say with only 26 letters in the alphabet. The possibilities must end at some point, right? Isn't there a finite amount any blogger can write about? I am flabbergasted by the amount of posts some bloggers can churn out, and how funny or poignant or interesting they are, and here I am, still discussing my children's poop fetishes.

So, yeah, you could say I'm in a wee bit of a creative slump. It's only a mild case of writer's block, I hope. I think this slump means I need to go out and experience some things instead of reading these things in my Google Reader. So for the next couple of weeks, I might not be the bestest bloggy buddy ever (I'll still visit, just not as often), but my content will get better (hopefully?!?), and for those of you who are a slave to your Google Reader as I am will be thankful in the long run (again-hopefully?!?).

I leave you with this picture and caption which I have circulated in Facebook and Twitter (am I really stealing material from myself? I would say it's a new low, but I have done it many times before....)

Batman... or Cowboy/Lumberjack? You decide!

PS- 60 minutes into this experiment of less computer time I have done laundry and opened mail. And then updated my post. WOOT there's some blogging material.

Flibbertygibbit

Here's my update on my life:

Wake up complain that I am tired, why didn't I go to bed earlier?
Wake up Drew, he complains he's tired.
Wake up Jacob, who is way too chipper at 6:30am.
Feed inappropriate food stuffs to children.
Rush around trying to get Drew ready for school, who fights me the whole way. Jacob on the other hand is just fine and happy. They are such opposites it's not even funny!
Drop off at school. Forget something important for Drew. ALWAYS. The Drama King comes out and I leave for work with him being an unhappy mess.
Get to work at 8:03am. Believe it or not, the 3 minutes I am late ARE a big deal, yet somehow I cannot correct it!
Coffee.
Data entry.
Coffee.
Complain to coworkers.
Eat a piece of coworker's chocolate.
Lame Lean Cuisine lunch.
Eat a piece of coworker's chocolate.
Data entry.
Harass coworkers.
Drive home. Complain about traffic.
Clean.
Make a semi-premade dinner. Feel exhausted from the effort.
Jacob eats a bite and wants to get down. After much crying, we let him. 5 minutes later he wants to get into highchair and tries to climb in to eat more. And repeat. And again.
Drew only eats what we make him eat as the only thing he EVER wants is cheese quesadillas.
Clean up after dinner.
Put Jacob to bed.
Complain about having to run.
Run.
Feel good and energized.
Try to watch TV with Mr. Bee- nothing on (can't wait to borrow True Blood, Sarah)
Play too long on Ipod.
Go to sleep too late.

So I am sorry I am so blah as of late! I am working on it- life just feels very full right now with the mundane and uninteresting, but I really am trying to keep it spicy with different types of entries. I imagine many of you feel the same way, at some points.

Even so, there will soon be some changes to my blog that I am very excited about! Stay tuned!

Welcome and TMI

Okay, I guess I must address my 50 (!) new followers. Welcome to my blog. Warning: I am kind of weird, I swear a little (I will try to stay away from the F bomb, I swear), I use CAPS and bold and italic and large sized fonts way too often to spice up text and I will put ridiculous amounts of pictures of my children up in order to keep you coming back.

Drew as baby. He will lure you back with his hypnotic blue eyes!

Also more random facts you should know you probably don't need to know but I am telling you anyway:

I am very liberal. That being said, I will always listen to opposing arguments. I don't talk about politics often on my blog because my knowledge is limited and I don't want a verbal beat down.

There are many words I do not like, that I cannot tolerate that are still in many people's vernacular. Specifically the F word, N word or R word.

I believe in God, but I never talk about him on my blog. In fact this is the first and last time. The Bee Family doesn't have a set religion, but we are trying some out. I was confirmed Catholic, but am no longer a practicing Catholic because I do not agree with their views on many things. Those of you that are Catholic, that's awesome. One of my best friends is Catholic.

I say awesome too much. Awesome either means wonderful or amazingly bad.

I think my kids are near perfect and I love them more than I thought I could love anyone (sorry Mr. Bee). There is just something so heart wrenching amazing about watching your children grow up. That being said, I could use a babysitter. Anyone, anyone?

I love my husband. Without him I would be incomplete. Okay, I know it's corny, but it's true.

I have the best friends on Earth, you know the kind that let you write about them passing out on the toilet and laugh about it. (By the way S, I had no idea you had passed out on the POTTY when I wrote it, I swear. I didn't make that connection until after the fact.)

My Mom and Sister are great friends. I confide in them all my overwrought worries and silly ticks and they still talk to me.

I work hard to make my Dad proud of me every day.

I hate working full time, but am pretty much stuck in a decent paying job with great benefits [yes I am trying to be sarcastic here]. (Note to boss: I write all of my posts at home and schedule post times for them, I promise.)

Oh, and this is a BIGGIE- in case you hadn't noticed, I am a huge sap.

Oh yeah... when a post is getting too wordy, I like to put pictures of cute fuzzy bunnies in them. So for your perusal:

I am pretty damn happy, but I promise not to sugarcoat it all of the time. Oops already swore- you see what I mean?

Here is a Primer to get you up to speed:

Mr. Bee= darling hubby
Calamity= 17 month old son, Jacob
Drama King or Mr. Drama= 4 year old son, Drew
Janana or Janna Bee= Me

Read the "About/Contact Me" Tab and "My Favorite Posts" Tab to learn more.

I also am running a blog carnival (is that what they are calling them these days?) for something called Friday Favorites. Friday Favorites are the things that got us through the week, big and small. I put up Mr. Linky every Friday so that you can link to your blog if you decide to do a Friday Favorites post. Last time it was really enjoyable for everyone who did it (either that or they lied to be nice). You can check out the Friday Favorites here and decide if you want to participate!

Friday Favorites
Friday Favorites #2
Friday Favorites #3
Friday Favorites #4

And now I have done my spiel!

So in short Welcome. Feel free to drop me a line about anything!

My 200th Post & Giveaway

So, 200 times I have clicked the publish post button.
200 times I have put it all out there.
200 times I thought people would want to read something I wrote.

I can't believe this is my 200th post. I wanted to do something special and do a a giveaway-I know everyone does these once in a while, but mine is very special. After all, how many giveaways feature:

A MIX CD! Contain your excitement or at least try. One of the giveaways is a Mix CD, custom mixed for your tastes (or mine, if you so shall choose). I am the master of the mix CD and I really pride myself on doing a good job so this isn't really as bad as you think. Cover art will be from none other than Drew, The Drama King himself. Okay, okay before you say I am lame cool I am, if you can believe it I am giving some other Prizes away:

25$ Giftcard to The Cheesecake Factory

25$ Giftcard to T.G.I. Fridays

Also: all winner's links (or names, if they are not a blogger) will be displayed at the bottom of my header for one week.

I will tell you how to enter:

The first step (1 entry)- Leave me a comment telling me:

• Your favorite Janana Bee post (you can look through archives or My Favorite Posts tag to get an idea if you are new to my blog)

• OR a question for me (or Mr. Bee) **Update- no one has asked me a question yet! So from now on, you get TWO entries for comments with questions! And yes you can recomment with a question for an extra entry. Seriously, don't be shy! There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers- from me!**
  

• OR your favorite Artist/Band(s) (you know, for the really cool mix CD you might win).

I will post the answers to my favorite questions and the top ten posts that are picked on March 1st as well. (PS if you are a follower and you post a comment- that's 2 entries.)

After your comment, the first entry, there are other ways to get more entries:

• 1 entry- Follow me on Twitter (button is on the right)
• 1 entry- Favorite me on Technorati (button is on the right- if you aren't familiar with technorati, go check it out- it's really useful for finding who inks to you!)
• 1 entry- Follow my blog
• 2 entries- Tweet this giveaway on twitter
• 2 entries- Link to my contest on your blog (an easy way to do this is to click the link to this button on the bottom of this post.)

**Please leave me a comment letting me know what you have done, so I can keep track.**

**The contest ends on 12 AM March 1st (Sunday).**
There will be a first, second and third name drawn. First name drawn gets first pick, second name gets second pick and third name gets my mix CD third pick.

This should be fun. Thank you for reading and being such a great support for my addiction hobby. This is my way of giving back to you!

File Under: Conversations that make me feel like a Dork

I was twittering away one lonely Saturday night (Mr. Bee was on the potty playing Animal Crossing on my pink DS) when I got a direct message tweet from my friend S. Quick Background- S is a friend from High School and College, and he's kind of a techno nerd, and works for a company that hosts blogs. I haven't seen him in about 5 years, but we still talk often on Twitter and Facebook (FB) because, well you know, we are both Internet dorks. So this is how the conversation started, with Direct Messages on Twitter. You know it's only going to get worse from there.

S: You know you should prob. look into getting a hosted blog and throwing up some ads. And you know I do hosting .

Me: What does that even mean? How much does that cost?

S: {sees that I'm on Facebook and switches over to Facebook chat- yes I am on FB and Twitter at same time- shut up! S explains hosting and such, I still don't get it and don't have the transcript so I won't bore you} I figure if you put up some ads you could make some money. You get a lot of traffic right?

Me: No. I guess it depends on how many are "a lot". How many clicks do you get on your blog?

S: Daily? Some days are better than others, but usually about 400-800.

Me: {Jaw drops to ground.} My numbers are much lower. {Silently think: divide by 100}

S: Oh, I just thought since you post and tweet so much that you had a lot of traffic on your blog.

Me: Um, no, not really. {I'm totally embarrassed now- didn't think anyone really NOTICED my addiction} It's a labor of love really, and Mommy blogs, well there's a lot of them with much better writers, so it's hard to stand out.

S: Well, think about it. Who knows you could become a millionaire blogger and I can say I knew you when, and helped you get started.

Me: Yeah, um, don't think that would happen but it would be nice, wouldn't it? {I'm a dork, I'm a loser}

S: Haha, well I have to back to watching old movies {Slowly backs away from conversation with loserish friend}


~-~-~-~-~


My Dad tells people all the time that I have this blog and I'm such a great writer and it is really embarrassing. There are so many better writers out there, and my blog is a pithy little thing that I take very seriously, and my wonderful parents think it's so great. They have no idea all the greatness that is out there!

It reminds me of every time Mr. Bee makes a statement about how popular I was in High School, when I really was not, not at all, just a total wallflower, and he says, "Oh, all the popular girls say that." No, not lying, was not popular in High School and am NOT a millionaire blogger. (Oh, I wish right?)

So, on that note...

1. Does anyone else get 800+ clicks a day?

2. Does anyone else have family members/friends that think their blog is a much bigger deal than it is? What do your family members think of your blog? Do they know that you have one?

3. And finally... were any of you the popular kids in High School?

If the answer is yes to number 3: Really? Because I hate you now. Just kidding. Kinda.

Little bit about Me and my blog

About Me
I honestly thought I was never "cut out" to be a Mom or Wife. Then I met Mr. B when I was 20. I knew immediately he was going to be an important part of my life, I just didn't know how. We started dating about a month after we met and within three weeks I knew that I loved him. A deep, serious love I had never experienced before. He is my best friend, which may be a cliche, but it's true. Somehow, even though I never saw marriage in my future, I became a wife two weeks after I turned 23, and a mother when I was 25, and the first mother in my group of friends and immediate family. There was quite a learning curve, and even now I am completely lost about 90% of the time.

My oldest son Drew was born in January of 2005 and Jacob was born in October of 2007. They are fricking awesome, and they also drive me nuts.

About Janana Bee (The Blog)....

One day, in late 2006, while on my newfangled Myspace account, I decided to write a little blog post. Then I wrote another. More friends commented and then I wrote another. I was on a blogging roll! I felt so inclined, I decided to write it on a real blogging platform, Blogger! Most of my stories are about learning how to be a Mom and still trying to be Janna as well. Photography is also evolving to be an important part of my blog, also.

My blog title is a play on my name. My real name is Janna, but sometimes people have called me Janana (you know, as in "Janna Banana"). So while my real name is Janna my blog is called Janana. I know it's confusing, like I said I dove into blogging headfirst without thinking about the possible confusion. If I could change it now I would, but now it seems part of me. Feel free to call me Janana or Janna, I will respond to either one. Bee is not my real last name, but rather a combination of my maiden name and married name and also it's a nickname.

So here I am, trudging through life, working full-time and trying to be the best I can be everywhere, including bloggy land. I love and hate it all. (Don't we all? If you say you don't, you are lying.) This is my journey, told through my warped mind.

I really have learned a lot from blogging and the blogging community, and have made some great friends. Please feel free to comment or email me (or follow me on twitter). I will respond. I really love reading and writing blogs and I have made some good friends from this experience. Drop me a line and say hi, or leave me a comment. I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Email me

Twitter

An award... really?

Okay, so I would like to say I don't care about awards, and that is how I felt, really, until Julia from Sometimes Lucid (please check out her blog, she is funny and makes the best looking food) awarded me with my first ever award! Woot! I will admit it's pretty awesome.



The award states "This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I am passing it on to the following bloggers who not only have great blogs, but are kind people who I think blog in the spirit of this award. They can choose to pass it on, or can choose not to. Here they are in no particular order:

My Rambling Thoughts

The Bush Family (Today is Mesa's 30th birthday! Go wish her a happy birthday!)

Strange Pilgrim

Life in the House of No Sleep

Left Coast Cowboys

Profoundly Inarticulate

Cold Spaghetti

Jodifur

Wow how many times can you say blog in a post? I think this is topping all my previous efforts... blog blog blog. Bloggedy, blog blog blog.

Oh, I also want to give a shout out to The Blog Doctor, whose posts have helped me with a LOT of my corrupted template. Just to forewarn, now that my template is fixed, there will be some construction here.

If I have time, I will also be writing a Meme today which I was tagged for. (Yes, I had to look up Meme- so not hip with the blogging language.) When it rains it pours. Not that I am complaining.

Also, going to see that Spartans play Basketball tonight! Woot again!

My Interview with Boodle, My Elf on the Shelf

So I thought you might be sick of hearing about the four of us, I thought you might want to hear about our temporary fifth member of the household, Boodle, our Elf on the Shelf. To learn more about Boodle, click here. Warning: there are major puns and bad jokes located within this text. Proceed with caution.

Me: Okay Boodle, thanks for chatting with us. I know you aren't supposed to speak to the families you stay with. Are you going to get into trouble?

Boodle: No, it's just the kids I'm not supposed to talk to. You adults just ignore me, so I ignore you.

Me: Sorry.

Boodle: Whatever. Not a big deal. *sniffs*

Me: So tell me something a little bit about yourself.

Boodle: My real name is Gavin and my job is very demanding during the Christmas Season. During the off season, however, I write novels, under a pseudonym of course.

Me: Really? Anything I have read?

Boodle: Have you heard of Harry Potter?

Me: Yeah!

Boodle: Well, I didn't write THAT but I wish I had. Man I would be RICH! I also went to Lollapalooza. Yeah, you are lucky I didn't tell Santa about what I saw you doing at Lollapalooza. Drink beer much?

Me: Yeah, I think we should, um...move on. So how long have you been a Christmas Elf?

Boodle: Well, you are my third family, so about 20 years.

Me: Oh, wow- how old are you?

Boodle: 65.

Me: You look so young!

Boodle: Yeah I get that a lot. Felt and plastic doesn't really age. Plus candy cane diets are very good for you, believe it or not, and I get a lot of exercise running from Homes to the North Pole.

Me: I bet that's difficult.

Boodle: Well thanks for covering for me the other day when I forgot to go by saying that you forgot to move me. I totally fell asleep.

Me: Um... no problem? So, since you "observe" our family all day, is there anything you can share with the readers about our family?

Boodle: Of course at an interview about me, you ask about yourself. You bloggers are a vain bunch.

Me: I'm not vain! A little self absorbed, maybe.

Boodle: Riiiight. Okay, so something about your family? You guys wear pajamas a LOT. And Mom, you swear under your breath often.

Me: Thanks for that.

Boodle: Well, Santa knows already, he's known for years... you were swearing back when you were 8, you know. Picked it up from your Dad, he's a champion swearer.

Me: Hey, don't say bad things about my Dad!

Boodle: I like your Dad! What's wrong with swearing? Elves swear all of the time, part of the reason that we don't talk to the children. I'm really cleaning it up for the interview, you know.

Me: Well thank you, the readers appreciate that.

Boodle: You mean all 11 of them?

Me: Hey, aren't you supposed to be a nice Elf?

Boodle: Who told you that?

Me: I just assumed.

Boodle: Well, assuming makes an ass out of you and me.

Me: You said you wouldn't swear.

Boodle: Sorry!

Me: What is Santa like?

Boodle: He is everything you've ever imagined. Jolly, generous, has trouble staying away from sweets. Kind of reminds me of Oprah. I don't see him every time I go to the North Pole. I see his Personelf Assistant. Santa is a busy guy. I will see him when he comes down your chimney on Christmas Eve. Speaking of that, you might want to move the toys that are in front of you chimney. Do your kids really even need toys?

Me: Okay, I think we need to wrap this up, it is going downhill quickly. One last question- who would you rather be stranded on a deserted Island with, Tinker Bell or the tooth fairy?

Boodle: What kind of BS question is that? Tinker Bell was made up by an JM Barrie. The tooth fairy, however is very REAL. On that note.... Tinker Bell.

Me: Really?

Boodle: Yeah, the Tooth Fairy is a little long in the tooth. *Snickers*

Me: Oh hardy har har.

My First....

This is my first Blog on this blogspot. The older posts are archives from my Myspace account, but I wanted to try something a little different, so here I am. I also figured I could put some ads on this and maybe get a little extra moolah for that baby mattress we need (or maybe more realistically, baby sheets). I will also try to post a little more often now that I don't have to go on myspace to do it.

I'm a little bit of a blogging novice, basically, I just started blogging because my family and friends enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it so much, I thought why not? Then it just began to grow, it's like some addiction I keep feeding. (Hey since I can't drink or smoke, and I'm unlikely to get addicted to exercise, at least it keeps me busy.)

So enjoy....