Blahhhhhhg.

I have a theory. It goes something like this: I have too many social media outlets.

Shocking, right? But really, this is why my blog has been suffering. Because when I want to say a one-liner from or about my kids, I go to Facebook and type it in... where I get the almost instant gratification of dozens of people "liking" and commenting. If I want to share a quick photo, nothing is faster than Instagram... and it makes my pictures prettier than I ever could with its magical filters, plus it can link to Facebook. If I want to share family experiences, I go to spokt.com- a private website created by my super smart husband quite a few years ago. The whole family uses it, so it is great for keeping up-to-date with each other. If I want to doodle or play a game with my family or friends, I launch Draw Something. If I want to catalogue, peruse, or use stored ideas for crafts, meals, workouts, or hairstyles (among other things), I go to Pinterest. If I read a book and want to review it, I visit Shelfari. With all these quick and easy outlets, my blog often gets left behind. Why?

Well, my blog is my journal. And for some reason ever since I can remember I have had a hard time recording things in my journal "out of order." If a big trip or event gets skipped, I feel like I cannot move on to other things until I record that occurrence. And the more time has passed, the harder it is, because it is A) harder to remember, B) no longer relevant to what is happening currently, and C) at the bottom of a list of things to write about that just keeps getting longer.      

Another thing. I like to take time writing on my blog, because I want it to be good. I like to edit, and editing takes time. I enjoy brevity and style. Not all of my posts are masterpieces, far from it actually. Nevertheless, I want to strive for quality, not necessarily quantity. But I do want some quantity.

But the other media outlets are so fast! If you want them to, they take no time! (But if you're not careful, they can suck up your whole life.) So why not ditch the blog?

This is where I want to collect everything. Where my life in a nutshell should be recorded. Everything else is piecemeal, it is scattered, it is hard to access. I want unity! My blog has evolved for sure over time, but I don't want it to evolve into nothingness. So I will try harder. Even if I need to steal quotes from Facebook and pictures from Instagram. Even if I am a little redundant, I will try harder to collect my life.

And what about the other stuff? Couldn't I or shouldn't I pare down? Well I really like my quick fix media outlets too, and they serve different specialized purposes, so I'm holding on to them for now. But if someone asks me if I want to join google plus, or twitter, or foursquare or flickr or linked in... my answer is going to be HECK to the NO, because I can't take any more.