I’m having a hard time blogging today. This always happens to me on Monday. I have lots of things to talk about but I just can’t get them down in an interesting, creative or even grammatical way! So, do you mind if I ramble for a bit?
I had lots of family in town this weekend. My aunt Paula and cousin Staci were here from California. My Aunt Laurie and her family were here from NJ. They all came for Camp Rocks. So, when camp was done we got to hang out a little bit. I miss my family. I wish we were closer together! That’s what heaven is for, I guess. (I’m not trying to be funny, I really think about that! When we get to heaven, we’ll get to be together forever!)
We had a Neighborhood Block Party at our house last night. Big slices of watermelon, homemade lemonade (2 whole bags of lemons, folks!), a baby pool and sprinklers for the kids! It was fun. It felt…Americana!
I just reread Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. This is the 2nd time I’ve read it since it came out. I had forgotten so much of it–mainly that (spoiler alert) SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE! I knew Dumbledore died, but I just forgot it was Severus that did it. Oh. I’ve been in Harry-Potter-land ever since then because the last and final volume, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows comes out in 11 days. I just don’t think I can make it! (btw, if you have a thing about Harry Potter, just remember I’m not reading it to Lydia, I don’t have a magic wand and click here if you need to.)
Lydia is tired and cranky. I’ve always said, there is nothing wrong with Lydia that a nap can’t fix. She sleeps generally 12-13 hours a night plus a 2-3 hour nap during the day. This past week with camp and the 4th, she was out late lots of nights, playing hard during the day and she’s still tuckered out! I’m looking forward to this week of doing nothing so she can catch up on her sleep and stop being a little crabby. No naps coupled with her new word, “noooooo” equals some fun times.
In bloggy news, Annie awarded me with the sweetest award. I’m still reflecting on it and will post about it this week.
Over at Musings of a Housewife, dcrmom decided to take down all her kids pictures and start using initials instead of their real names. It’s got me thinking. I want to protect Lydia more than anything. But at the same time, the whole point of my original blog was to show my family Lydia’s life. My mom, dad, brother, cousins, sil and best friends link to my blog. If I went incognito, they’d have to do the same. How can you ever be completely safe? I mean, Chloe O’Brien can hack into any computer and find anyone she wants. If a freak wanted to find us, they could. What’s a girl to do?
And that’s all she wrote.
I’m still struggling with the whole picture thing myself. I probably won’t post anymore pics on my blog, but I don’t want to delete what’s already there!
What IS a girl to do?
I feel a little torn about whether or not to share the pics of the kids or not, as of today actually. I did use their names at first but quickly changed to initials. I always think those who use their names and kids names are way braver than me! 🙂 I am sure anyone determined enough to dig for info would find a way to the info but I choose to make it difficult. I do not have any sort of photoshop feature right now and would love to make it so that my pics are unable to be copy/pasted. I just think of things like what is happening to the Miss New Jersey girl and there is always someone out there trying to harm people. Is it her fault for making her photos available on the web or was she innocent and someone is editing pictures to make them worse? I don’t really know. I just think my job is to guard my family and although I am exposing us via this outlet – I can be discreet. Our friends/family are well able to understand when I say HC or JB and they know what I mean. After hearing a little about the Miss New Jersey thing today I actually looked through all of my pics online to see if they could be misused or taken out of context. They are innocent moments with my kids but people can edit pics these days. They also mentioned (on news) that these days employers google potential employees names and if they find a blog/myspace/etc they do use that to determine whether to hire them or not. They went on to say that young people need to be more guarded about what they put out there. It is permanent. It really made me wonder if I am taking my kids and displaying them, intending to share with family/friends, and in the end I bring harm to them? I doubt what I am doing could be misused but you never know how freaky people can be. I don’t know. I do know I am a little freaked out when a random guy finds my blog and comments and when I view their site I am uncomfortable with what they share/say. Your arguments are good but I just don’t know how I feel yet. It is clear there is much to be said on this topic.
I won’t bother to share the answer I left you on my blog, in response to your comment. It appears I’ve said ‘too much’. 🙂
I briefly thought about taking pictures of the kids down and using nick names for them. But there’s a Bible verse that we pray over the kids every night at bed time. We say, “Ben and Luke’s angles have charge over them to keep them in ALL their ways and NOTHING shall by ANY MEANS harm them…” so I just trust in God and keep going and having fun with my blog.
After reading some of the stories of folks who have had creepy experiences with people on this Internet thing, I’ve concluded that you just can’t underestimate how weird some folks choose to be. And some folks will pour amazing amounts of time and energy into their own weirdness.
I very seldom post pictures on my own blog and I use creative pseudonyms for my family like Wife, Daughter and Son. But I know that if some weirdo wants to take the time to piece together all the subtle clues, he could figure out who I am.
I just now heard that fear is the opposite of faith. What is the fine line that separates fear from just plain ole being smart and protecting your family? I started Izzy’s blog because I had so many people who wanted updates on her. When I started my annie blog it was just because I had a voice inside me that wasn’t just Izzy’s progress and I felt like it didn’t belong on her progress report blog… Some of my blog friends have posted fictitious names for safety and I do understand it. Ever type out a lot of words and then get to a stopping point and think, “where was I going with this? :o)” I think I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. I pray over all my family so many times a day and know that God will protect us. One rule I have for my blog is that I won’t post anything that would embarrass my kids or that they wouldn’t want to read… because from time to time they do read it. (mostly to see what’s for dinner :o)
Your block party sounds like fun! We have one on fourth of july that is like that too, very americana!
Okay, I left for a minute and read that article and then the link too… my thoughts are the same.
Thanks for adding Izzy to your ohpraywithme! You are such a sweetheart!
I have a tag, a fun one too (it’s five things I dig about Jesus) and I hope to get to that one today. It’s hard to keep up with all this stuff huh? but fun!
Happy Tuesday Amanda!
p.s. I imagine this comment doesn’t make much sense, but to my defense I just woke up a few minutes ago and am sneaking in some blogging while ALL the kids are sleeping :o)
I feel just like you do on Mondays. So much to say, just don’t know how to put it in coherent terms. 🙂 And, I could write a book on my views of Harry Potter, I’ve stopped trying to defend my position. Every one has a choice. Everything is permissible; but everything is not beneficial. I answer for me and my children-no one else 🙂 So, read on, if you want. 😉 As for the picture thing, I agree with Annie. I don’t post pics of the family every week anyway, and if they wanted to find me, they could. Even if I didn’t have a blog. Anyone can google me and find out where I live, and stalk about. God is protecting me and my family. All good thoughts today!
Ramble away! I like rambly posts. Of course, I’m a pro at them, lol.
About the pictures, I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to take them down, but I just feel safer this way. I totally understand the other point of view, though. And I still feel sad about taking mine down.
As far as God’s protection, he doesn’t guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen. And of course, something bad can happen even when you are taking every possible precaution against it. But I think we are responsible to use the wisdom God gave us. That said, I don’t judge anyone who chooses to continue posting pictures. It’s a personal decision about every individual’s comfort level. And I love seeing pictures my bloggy friends post, so I selfishly hope they don’t all start taking them down. 🙂
Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.
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