I'm Baaack!

Well, hello there readers. It's been some time. Lots of time. Looks like I haven't blogged since before Purim!! After getting some worried inquiries, and some friendly kicks in the pants, I finally made some time to sit down and fill you all in on why I've been so seriously MIA. So! Around the time of my last post, I was headed to a friends house one evening to share some music and burn new CD's for carpool. While getting out of the car, I accidentally knocked my computer bag quite heavily against the door, and that was the last time I'd use my computer for a few months. Apparently, the drive was running at the time and got kocked to the point of disc damage. When I realized I couldn't get my computer to boot, I figured I had used up all the space available, but the problem was a little bigger than that and needed some serious IT attention. For some reason, I got really lazy about it, and after having it looked at and diagnosed, I just sort of let it sit there idly on my desk and started to enjoy life without a screen. I didn't mean to do it, and it wasn't a preconceived experiment, it just sort of... happened. And once I got used to not using it, I realized I didn't really need it. And somehow, it wasn't even that big a deal! I'm even kinda shocked about it as I'm typing this out now - I can't believe how easy it was to live without it! At first I missed it, mostly just missed the browsing factor - checking out all the latest links and visiting my favorite blogs etc. But other than that, I got used to its absents very quickly. And! I don't even use a smartphone, (you may want to sit down for this part) I'm still using the same flip phone I've had since high school! Meaning, I really unplugged. Though, I do have an iPod, and did use that frequently for small things like checking my email, instagram activity, and a few other mom-life-saving apps (like Peekaboo barn). Here's an instagram photo dump of what we've been up to while I've been "away":

Unplugging for me was a really healthy experience. And I have to admit that I'm really happy about what I noticed in the interim. I didn't find it "mind blowing" or "life altering" at all! I'm not going to lie, obviously I spent some more quality time with my family without a computer in the way, and I definitely had more time for things, but it wasn't at all that big of a deal. I would miss it sporadically, and remind myself to get it fixed, but mostly, I didn't even think about it. It wasn't like this huge part of my life was missing, and that was so shocking to me! My mother kept asking me how I'm functioning without my computer like it was an impossibility. :) And my husband kept badgering me to get the thing fixed so that I could get "back to normal" i.e. not bothering him to check my bank account, email, news, etc. So while it was totally inconvenient, it wasn't a huge factor in my day-to-day life. And I would have thought that it would be...

To be fully candid and honest here, it was a real relief for me to see how happily and healthily I lived without being plugged in. When I started this blog back in 2009, a big reason for me taking up blogging to begin with had been that I was feeling lonely and even a little bored. I was a stay-at-home mom of a 1 year old, living in a second-floor apartment building, in a city where my friends were few-to-none. My husband had been working long grueling hours and commuting to LA and back which meant I didn't see him all day, on most days until after the baby was sleeping. I ate dinner alone with my DirectTV remote and a glass of wine, and while I thought I was totally enjoyed my life then, I needed an outlet for my creativity and I needed a connection to a world of mothers and friends - even if that had to be a cyber connection. And this blog worked wonders for me! I still love using this outlet, and when I unplugged these past few months I realized what I missed most was the concept of "sharing", but joyfully noted that my life has since turned so much more active and interactive that I really don't have the need at all for a social media platform like I did before. And that spoke volumes to me. And I was happy.

And now I'm happy to be back. :)

(But after being happy, I did finally snap out of the laziness and eventually approached someone for help. A friend of ours was the biggest savior - Ryan Silver specializes in IT and was a total godsend!! Hit him up here for any IT help you need - personal computers, startups, companies etc. He's super friendly and fully efficient, and will totally take your tech to the next level!!)