Out with it

Alright.

The time has come to tell you what I've been up to these last few days.  I can't stand when people allude to a secret and lead you along for days on end.  It's just like- out with it already.

So here it is.  I got a job.

Ha! Are you dying? Like I have time! Like I have any business having a job!

I know. I know.

But I'm already doing what I'm going to now get paid to do.  Blog.

I was approached by a new company to be their offical blogger.  Not just any new company.  Like a really, really cool company.

I peed in my pants just a wee bit.

So this company can be described as "memory catchers".  Their main company value is living authentically.  You know that soooo speaks to me and it's why they chose me.  I have a tendancy to let it all hang out.  I like keeping it real.

So you will find my ramblings on the Paper Coterie blog starting next week.  Just what you needed right? More of me. Ha!

So.  

The launch party is next week. 

Why am I telling you all this other than to toot my own very happy horn?

Because there is something in it for you.

When you join the party on May 4th, during the Open House Event, all of my readers will get:

1.     $40 credit to spend that day (you only pay for shipping)
2.     An inspire-y message from Dr. Brene Brown (my newest hero) that most of us can use
3.     All new content and inspiring ideas

You can start working on your projects so you don't have to do it all on May 4th...but, don't check out,  finish it up that day and enter OPENHOUSE to use your $40 credit!!!!

Go go go. Go capture some of your family memories.  

so

So, I have been thinking about a conversation I had with a friend a year ago. I do these sorts of things. Go over old conversations in my head thinking about what I should have said. It's just one of my many neurosis and I have learned to just roll with it.

Anyway, I had just started my blog and she was saying how she likes to read blogs, but she rarely comments. At the time, I readily agreed with her. Why should a person have to comment on every blog they read? What if you really don't have much to say on the topic? Why the pressure?

Damned needy bloggers! Get over yourselves! (I spit in the dirt for emphasis!)

However, I am finding that not unlike casserole recipes from the 70's, humble pie is a regular menu item that keeps cropping up around here. I've got the pudgy thighs and bitter aftertaste to prove it.

There have been times, over the last year, that I have poured my heart out into a blog post only to be meet with silence. It feels a little like I have told an offensive joke at one of my parent's dinner parties. Crickets chirp, throats are cleared.

I was fine until I added a sitemeter which educated me on just how many people don't have anything to say in response to my ramblings. It is really quite absurd how many of you keep returning to my spot here on the internet only to LURK.

So I'm calling you out. Olli olli oxen free!!!! Today is national de-lurking day. Really. They have a day for it. It seems I'm not the only chagrined blogger out there.

Especially you, Miss Finland! The lurking has got to stop.

going, going, gone

I woke up today to thunder. I am yet to see any rain, but I am hopeful. I think a little comfort food on a rainy day is just what the doctor ordered.

Rosie is headed home to her busy collage life. We always feel a little down when guests leave. The house gets a little quieter and we all look at each other as if we had just gotten bad news.

The winner of the Mountain Aven baby tee is comment #26, Kim of Circles are Forever. The winner of the Wendy Conrad stationary is comment #15, Cate of Sugarblossom Cate. Please contact me with your shipping information. aprilcmeeker@hotmail.com

and counting. . .

1. A Little Child, 2. Chinese Child 3. Dragon, 4. Chinese Child 5. little chinese girl, 6. I spy with my little eye, 7. Petita Miss Miao, 8. Practice Makes Perfect... (By Dad), 9. Village Near Shambei: Child, 10. Child, 11. Bald Happy Children, 12. Chinese Girl on Bridge, 13. The Boy in Basket, 14. Little Miao girl in traditional costume, 15. 7 trash, 16. Old Haikou I

1,000,000 thoughts of Mei Mei

500,000 kisses

499,999 I love yous

1010 views on my blog

905 hearts on Etsy

500 miles in running shoes

272 items sold on Etsy

209 days since our LID with China

100 dollars on new plants

14 years of marital bliss

2 years in our house

1 happy girl