2019!! Plans and Progress.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I have returned from a nice, long blog hiatus once again. Life just tends to cause these little blips now and then, doesn't it? But I tend to think that the interruptions I've had over the last couple of years have been worth it.

But the itch has returned, and I needed to go back to blogging. I'm reentering the blogosphere like I always tend to do...with a read-a-thon. Next week is Bout of Books 24!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 24 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Bout of Books is one of my favorite read-a-thons to participate in. It's a week long, so there is no pressure to do an entire day. I can piecemeal things here and there. The group of participants is always great and the Twitter chats are a blast!

Beyond read-a-thons and occasional book reviews, I have a few new plans for the blog this year. Gary and I were talking a couple of weeks back and I mentioned how I missed doing things for the blog, but I didn't know what direction to take. I don't currently have access to all the crafting gear, so projects of that nature are bound to be few and far between for a bit. I also want to get moving forward with talking about the farm and farmsteading stuff, but I feel like that needs to be kept primarily over at the farm blog (which I will be starting to post on regularly beginning this month).

Anyway...Gary suggested that I review kids' books, since I read so much with the boys and I always have an opinion about the books we read. So, that will be a feature that will be added. You'll be able to follow those reviews here, but you can also see the entire listing of basic reviews for the books I read with the boys over at their Goodreads account.

I have a lot of updating to do around the place. A few cobwebs to sweep from the corners and whatnot. This always happens in January, but it's going to be a bit of extra work this year since I wasn't updating the pages as the years went along. I'm actually excited to do it though. I know...it's a sickness.

I WILL be returning to doing random projects, they just won't all be DIY projects. We are in the midst of a slow renovation of our house, so there will be bits of that. I'll also be doing some decorating. The craft materials may slowly find their way out of boxes and into use. And I'll be doing some toddler activities with the boys as well as some preschool curriculum development. There may be a bit of farmstead stuff thrown in, but I haven't decided yet. All I know is that I will be doing more around here. Yay!

Oh...and for those of you who are curious. Yes...I will be doing the Book of the Year Bracket Challenge. You should see a post for that sometime in the next couple of weeks. That's an annual tradition I can't skip.

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to 2019! If you haven't yet joined Bout of Books, mosey on over and get signed up. You don't have to read a lot, just what you can. But the social interaction is a good time. And I will be seeing you more frequently around here with a little project action...and of course it will be erratic and unpredictable as always!!