First Monday’s Month in Review – Rewind April

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Hey Dolls,

Happy first Monday in May.

I have been subbing at a very well organized but kinda quiet high school library for the last four school days and have had a little time each day to reflect (sounds fancy) on where I want the blog to take me this month.  Yes, where the blog should/might/will take me.

I would like to think I am in charge here but as it happens so often, I sit down to write a post, thinking I know what I am doing, what I am going to say, only to find that as I start typing my post, it evolves into something totally different from what I had planned.

Not sure if the keyboard on my laptop is the one calling the shots, or if my finger-tips have little, teensy minds of their own once I start to type, or maybe the blog itself has ideas about how we, WE should be doing things.  But one thing is for certain, my posts have been high-jacked more than a time or two.

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Just please don’t call me Sybil.

So, with that out there, I am thinking that today we are going to rewind April and look forward to May.  We’ll see what happens.

My friend and Style Me Blogger buddy, Deena at Shoes to Shiraz, does a great post at the end of each month where she looks at the month in numbers, click here to check it out.

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 I am most definitely right brained.  Numbers are not my friends.  One look at my bank account would confirm that for you.  I seem to only know one mathematical function…subtraction.  So, I am going to do my best with the numbers that made up my month as they relate to my life and my blog.

 Let’s do some blog math first.

In April, Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After had:

1. 2,579 page views (And they weren’t all me!)
2. 1,896 unique visits
3. 1,535 first time visits
4. 361 return visits (This really makes me happy! Several people came back on purpose, more than ONCE!  And my mom doesn’t even use the Internet any more.)

To be honest, I am a little scared what my numbers will be the end of May.  Kind of afraid there will be some subtraction from April’s digits (like that slang?).  The Style Me Bloggers had a give-away in April and that definitely improved my numbers.

If only I could afford to do a give away every month!

I think I am kind of finding my own voice in this blog writing stuff.  We’ll see if the real me scares my 1,896 visitors away in May (that rhymes!).

Onto the burning question on everyone’s lips…how did I do toward meeting my Rediscover ME goals this month?

Thank you for asking.

For my Quality of Life goals (formerly known as the artist known as Prince, or Main or Day One goals):

1.  I read THREE books this month.  Yup, cover-to-cover.  How’s that for a retired librarian?

The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth is a grown-up, big girl book.  Karen Cushman’s The Midwife’s Apprentice is more a tween-girl’s novel written on a middle school reading level.  It was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1996 by the American Library Association.

Do you sense a theme in my books for April?

I actually read a THIRD book which was a very quick, poignant read, Pluto, a Wonder Story by R. J. Palacio.

Book reviews coming shortly!

2.  I did write everyday or almost everyday.  Most of my writing was in the form of blog posts, TWELVE, count ’em, TWELVE, to be exact.

3.  I was more faithful to my devotional time, at least FIVE days a week.

4.  I participated in life more and Internet-ed less.

ONE trip to Ft. Worth with PC to see Brennyn, Corey and Cady for Easter, ONE AND A HALF trips to Austin for the Texas Library Association annual conference with Valerie, Brennyn and Cady (FOUR girls in ONE hotel room) and then on to Houston to see Lauren and Francisco.

Cady is ONE Groucho Marx-lookin’ FOUR YEAR-OLD.  My FIRST food truck experience while in Austin.   Met TWO children’s authors, Michael Dahl writing for Capstone Publishers is pictured below.

 ONE delicious s’more crepe as big as my head in Houston.

TWO Triple A baseball games to support our team, El Paso Chihuahuas.

For my Self-Care/Appearance, Healthy Living/Wellness, and Personal Growth/Relationships goals, I didn’t fare as well.

A lot of big, fat ZEROES.

Didn’t exercise like I should have, unless lifting a fork to my mouth counts.

ZERO mani/pedis.  ZERO teeth whitening.  ZERO swimming.  Almost ZERO flossing (I know!).

Lifted weights TWICE.  ZERO work on my artistic projects (painting, scrapbooking, cross-stitching).

Ran ONCE on the treadmill, TWO miles in about 20.5 minutes.

Walked an average of about 10,000 steps a day until my FITBIT broke.

Then I decided why walk?

Can I get a high FIVE for being honest at least?

I did work as a substitute librarian EIGHT days in April.  That counts for something, right?

So now we are into May.  Am I doing better raising these ZEROES into real numbers this month?

Please come back to see how I fare this month.

Hugs and kisses,