Spin Cycle: Happiness is...blogging again?

Let me tell you about things that make me happy, why I took a blogging hiatus, and why I may or may not continue it.

Point the first: I love my children. They make me happy. Working full time as I do, I see them between 2 and 3 hours a night on the week days. That is just not enough. So I spend every second in their presence from the moment I walk in the door after work until the moment I walk out of my younger daughter's bedroom at night. And since I am apparently not allowed to go the bathroom alone, I literally mean every second.

Point the second: I think I have an addictive personality. It is a good thing I'm not into smoking or drinking or illegal substances, because I suspect I would do them heavily. Because if I get into something I get into it HARD. I have to really enjoy it to get into it, but if I do, watch out. So yes. My name is Rachel and I am addicted to Farmville. And Petville. And a host of other Zynga games on Facebook. I am very happy with this obsession, and it has not lessened yet, although I hear that will come.

Point the First plus Point the Second equals Point the Third: All my free time in a day happens between 8pm and whatever time I collapse. In that time (anywhere from 2 to 4 hours generally) I need to clean my kitchen, prepare things for the next day, pick up some of the toys that are more likely to cut or bruise you if you step on them, do crazy things like pay bills, and now I also "have" to harvest crops, collect eggs, shear sheep, brush cats, feed pets and fish, virtually cook things like Triple Berry Cheesecake, and send virtual presents from multiple games to a host of people (this sounds like work but makes me happy). I used to blog during that chunk of time (that made me happy too). I also have about 20 minutes in the morning to myself, which I use for showering and reading other people's blogs (this also makes me happy), not working on my own blog (not so happy about that).

So yes. I have been unable to summon the energy to post after my frenzy of left-clicking is over. But blogging used to be a stress reliever for me in a way that mindlessly clicking on sheep and goats is not, so I want to get back into it. Baby steps though. Perhaps 2 day crops instead of 24 hour ones so I have less obligations in the virtual world at night. Or perhaps my upcoming family trip to Disney World next week will cut me off cold turkey from my addiction, as I will not have internet access for a shocking number of days. We'll see.

So, to encourage me, help me out with another thing that is preventing me from blogging. It's been an on-going problem, but now I'm so annoyed by it that I need to be vocal (It is REALLY not making me happy). Does anyone know what to do if your camera's memory card uploads your pictures out of order? The pictures are in order when the memory card is in the camera, and the computer copies them to its memory in the same order that they appear on the selection screen that lets you choose which pictures to upload, but on that screen the are all mixed up. I take hundreds of pictures of my children (probably only 20% are ever seen by anyone other than my family), I like them in chronological order, and it is a major PAIN IN MY BEHIND to have to rename all the pictures so they will be in order. This has not always happened on this computer, and it stared happening before I got my new camera, so those aren't easy reasons why this is happening, but it is annoying and I'm finding it super easy to use this as an excuse for not blogging, since re-ordering the pictures would take time that I am currently spending playing games on Facebook and re-connecting with people I have not talked to in 10 years. Anyone have any ideas? Please comment me at my personal e-mail or the blog e-mail, which, if you happen to have just stopped by for the first time today, is rachelsramblings at gmail dot com.

That will make me happy.

And to see more things that make people happy, or make them unhappy, or make them think about happiness, head on over to the Spin Cycle, brought to you by Sprite's Keeper.

She will be happy you did.