And I have been getting more Things done and going and going and going… and now I stand at the precipice of a holiday break, ready to collapse into the car and let it carry me to Alabama for a week or so.

Tomorrow (or Saturday) I’ll catch up on posting my pictures.

Tonight our family went to the parade. Damon and Fuller were in the parade as part of Fuller’s football team. Tebow and I waited on the sidelines, at the end of the parade route. I tried to take pictures but the vantage point wasn’t awesome and Tebow wasn’t too happy.

I’m not sure what it is, but I have become intrigued with capturing lights, in a bokeh like fashion. I find the result to be playful and dramatic.

And that is Day 2.

January 1st is a pretty popular one. It is a time of year for reflection on the past and planning the steps to make the next year even better. We make lists, set goals, plot paths to make sure the next 365 days are filled with greatness and meaning. “This year I’m going to travel to all states that border my state and then I’m going to…”

Some of us see each month as a fresh start, with new dates of appointments, events, and deadlines fill our calendars. “Just wait until we get to March, then things will start to change…”

Mondays represent fresh starts because it is the beginning of a new week, a whole seven days to get through until our next Monday, when we throw off the stale and find the freshness all bright eyed and hopeful for the good things to be found. “I’ll start my diet on Monday…”

And then, there is the personal fresh start we each get once a year, the birthday! Though it doesn’t get the fireworks and worldy stature of a holiday (unless you happen to have been born on a holiday), it is a fresh start I think most of us take personally and maybe even rely on to assist us in moving in a forward motion through life. “When I turn 40 I’m going to write a book…”

Today’s my birthday.

I’m 34 and while it doesn’t have the pomp and circumstance that a number that ends in a 5 or a 0 does, I do find myself using 34 as a stepping stone to give myself a fresh start and desire to pray, plan, and plot my way to 35. But I think first I have to follow some advice my husband was giving Fuller last night- “After a play, you need to look back and ask yourself, Did I do that right or wrong? If you did it right, then think about the steps you took to do it right. If you did it wrong, then think about what you needed to do to make it right.” (That is a loose transcript. Also, he was referring to football, not life pathways.)

At the beginning of 2010 I made a list of “pictures” of my life. Since my birthday is so close to the end of the year, it seems to be a good time to look at the list and see how the pictures developed. I’m not going to do it right here in this blog post, but it is one way I’m using my fresh start. I’ll see if any of those pictures are going to come out ok.

This isn’t an “I’m sorry for abruptly ditching this blog” post, just a way of typing out my justification for going MIA. It’s more for me.

If you have ever watched the web series “The Guild” then you know there is a character called Clara who is a mom who loves her online gaming. If you haven’t watched it, then I suggest you take about an hour or two out of your day to begin at the beginning and check out the series. (The episodes average 10 minutes or so.)

Anyway, Clara is an extreme caricature, but she scared me. As a mom who has (had?) an online life, I could never become someone who neglected her kids that much or alienated her husband due to the computer, but I wondered if those observing me saw me as a Clara-type mom. (For the record, Damon has assured me I am not Clara.)

In the past few months I have also seen the scales tip from balancing online life and real life in favor of real life for other reasons- one being the attention Tebow needs/ demands. While Clara is a character I dread becoming, in the episode below, starting at the 4:18 point, should demonstrate the tornado effect Tebow has when I am on the computer during his waking times. (To not watch the entire episode, just let it go through the commercial- that I don’t get money for- and the pause it to let the video load. Once loaded, you can drag the play point to 4:18.)

What those three kids did to her computer was about what one Tebow can do to mine. Or my mom’s, where Tebow recently turned off her computer while she was in the midst of typing an email.

So, I need to find the new balance point if I want to step back into online life. These two reasons are my biggest reasons for being silent until now. And it is kind of uncomfortable because I miss it. I’m going to try again… I really have no reason not to at least try.

Well, at least it will be virus free.

My laptop has had viruses before, but never this bad. We’ve used home remedies to patch it back up, but on Tuesday, it was obvious a professional had to take over.

My stomach was in knots of frustration. I couldn’t think clearly. My usual tech guy was back in Chattanooga trying to talk me through steps on the phone (love you, Damon!). And wouldn’t you know it, I was got a bit of freelance work just as the computer got ill.

Hopefully I get it back today, along with the pictures I have from our temporary relocation. And hopefully my stomach will unknot itself.

Please, just tell me it will be ok.

Hey! Are you reading this post in a feed reader? Move it over to my actual blog to see what it looks like!

I love plaid. Aqua is pretty and matches my eyes. I thought maybe a darker background would be better to show off my photographs. And the sidebars met some silly criteria I had.

I still have some behind the scenes reorganizing to do, but whenever remodeling is done on anything (and I know a thing or two about remodeling) some reorganizing must be done. But, let me know what you think.

I’m still sick, but I can tell the medicine the physician’s assistant prescribed has helped. Let’s all say a little word of thanks for codeine. I got some good sleep. I still woke up several times, once because I heard this strange wheezing noise and when I woke up I realized it was me!

Last week I had planned on getting my flu shot yesterday, but I wasn’t allowed since I was sick. But since the flu test was negative, I can get one after I’m well. Which I’m happy to do because the flu test was so un-freaking-believably awful. A shot in the arm is better than a swab up both nostrils any day.

And one of the areas of my life- one of the true things about me- is my online life. The blogging, the twittering, the facebooking, and the DIGITAL MOM part of my life… they are a big part of who I am. And, I am totally doing myself a disservice by not blogging about them.

I think I took a wrong turn somewhere when I told myself I shouldn’t blog about blogging. I didn’t think I was doing my readers any favors by reading about online life stuff. But in not blogging about anything else in the blogosphere, I was hampering my ability to build community.

I’ve mentioned twitter here and there, but I never promote twitter parties or reference the friends I’ve made there. I don’t talk about forums I frequent and the relationships I’ve built there. IRL (aka in real life) when I talk about being online, about the digital mom part of my life, I kind of get embarrassed and try to change the subject. I try to defend hours I spend at the laptop.

Actually, let me tell you a story.

After the Today Show segment aired, I never came back to this space to explain anything people saw on TV. I stewed over many things that irritated me, I quit reading Dooce because of what her commenters said about me, and I was kind of glad we went on vacation right away and had almost no internet access. It allowed me to just skip over it and go back to blogging stories and sharing pictures.

But it wasn’t me. I was denying a part of who I am. If I’m going to say I’m a digital mom on national TV, shouldn’t I be comfortable writing about it as well?

So, as I move forward with figuring out who I am, I embrace the fact that I am a blogger, I have a life online, and I’ll probably be writing about it a bit more in the future.

1. A 5th generation iPod Nano. This is a cop out since technically I already have it. Damon bought it for me back in September as an early birthday gift. I love it because it has a small video camera. I just need to learn how to convert the files to something I can work with. (Of course, I would take this protective case for it, since they finally seem to have some on the market.)

2. The Nikon 35mm lens I have been wishing for. I learned that a 50 mm lens that works with my camera is really expensive. But a 35 mm prime lens is cheaper and just as good.

3. Wii Fit Plus – I have the Wii, I have the Wii Fit, why not add Wii Plus?

4. This Kodak printer because our printer has problems and I want a cheap way to print some photos at home.

5. An all expense trip to Blissdom, including being able to take Damon and the boys, who would love hanging out at the Opryland Hotel. There is a boat ride in the hotel! Fuller would love it!

6. I would love an eye-fi card for my camera. I got to see it in action at Type A Mom Conference when I saw Rick Bucich (from Tiny Prints) using one. He was really great about explaining how it worked and it made me want one a lot!

7. The latest version of photoshop so I can really know what all those photoshop tutorials are talking about.

8. I have a crush on Burberry. Some women like Coach. I like Burberry. It’s the plaid. I want this purse. (See, I said some were outlandish.)

9. I think our family could use a Netbook for travel. Love my laptop, but traveling with it and the baby stuff and the camera is a bit much.

10. Someone should send me (and my family, I guess) to Hawaii. I want to photograph volcanoes, coffee plantations, and surfers. Anyone want to send us? We love to travel!

11. (Ok, this is a bonus.) I would love some of these photo mailers.

So there it is. The “what I want for turning 33″ top ten. Want to see other Top Ten lists? Check out OhAmanda for the linky!

[tags]top ten Tuesday, birthday gifts, digital photography, eye-fi, Nikon, Blissdom[/tags]

BUT! Before I could move the food from the dorm fridge to the big fridge, I had to clean it up. It was gross. There was dried on yuck under the veggie drawers. There were some moldy things and dried lettuce stuck the bottom the drawers. And so, I had to clean it.

The thing is, I had to figure out how to get the dried on yuck out. It didn’t just wipe out. And at first I couldn’t scrape it away. So I set the tea kettle on the stove and waited for it to whistle. Once the water was boiling, I poured it directly on the yuck. Within seconds, I was able to scrape it all out. Then I was able to disinfect and scrub with soap.

So, that’s what worked for me.

To find other inspiring (mine was inspiring, right?) works for me tips, just go see We are THAT Family for the links.

[tags]Works for Me Wednesday, hot water, cleaning, fridge[/tags]