Welcome to our new home, friends! Our new website. Our new place to throw ourselves on the couch in our comfy jammy pants and old, ugly t-shirts and big, puffy socks and put our feet on the furniture because we’re home.
I’m so glad you’re here.
So, SO glad.
Because we’re together and the move is OVER. Or mostly done, minus All the Unpacking and the Things I Forgot and the Things That Are Lost and the Myriad Details Left to Do, but nevermind that for now.
This is the housewarming party. Except not the kind with invitations or matching glassware or nicely folded, embroidered hand towels by the bathroom sink.
Nope. This is the real housewarming party; the impromptu one that happens right after the very last box has been moved into the house and the rental truck is on its way back to the yard and your very best, battered friends have collapsed in heaps of grit and grime on the floor and on the boxes and on your grandmother’s antique buffet table because that’s what available, and someone says, “let’s order pizza!” And someone else says, “The beer’s in the cooler in my car.” And the children run around like squirrels, stopping and starting unpredictably, shivering with excitement and nerves, rushing to shove things in corners and closets and store their treasures before winter, while the grown-ups do whatever they can to stay as still as possible after the frenzy of the last few days.
This is that party, the one where I can confess I thought we might not get it done. And where I tell you I am SO PROUD OF MYSELF for keeping my crap together the ENTIRE TIME we were pulling late nights and getting little sleep, except for last night when I didn’t keep my crap together at all, but whatever. It’s all part of it. The crap-keeping and the crap-losing. And now we can sit around on the clean-for-now kitchen floor and laugh about our mess and our humanity which are, as always, the best and funniest parts of the story.
You might be wondering, though, what does this move mean for you? What do you have to do? On the surface, the answer is nothing. Of course, you’ll notice we’re at a whole new address — www.BethWoolsey.com — picked for streamlining and the hope that a book may someday be a reality. But if you forget and show up at the old place, we’ll redirect you here, so no worries, friends; we’re watching out for you. And if you’re signed up to get the emails or the RSS feed, you’ll still get them, the same as before. We think. We hope. If we’ve done our job the way we think we have. If we haven’t, or something is out of place or not quite right, I do hope you’ll let us know so we can fix it for you.
Underneath the surface, though, I will ask for your help. Just for a bit of hand holding. Because even though I know this place is bigger and prettier and has more room for us all, I’m going to miss our old place with its grubby exterior and homemade design and amazing memories and muddy footprints and urinal cakes and those of you who met me at the door as stranger, but took a risk and came inside and sat with me in the magic and the mess, where we became friends.
We’ll make new magic and new messes together, I’m sure of it. Until then, I’ve brought all our old things along — every post and comment — and you’re invited to make yourself at home.
Open the cupboards, get yourself a drink, pull up a chair, and stay a while.
Welcome home.
And Now for the House Tour!
I hope we’ve made some things easier to find.
On Your Left, you’ll see our social media and subscription buttons under the photo, followed by lists of some of our favorite blog posts categorized for easy browsing.
Along the Top, all of the pages — About Us, Advertising, and Frequently Asked Questions — have been updated or have brand new content.
On Your Right, friends of this blog are advertising their writing, businesses, homemade goods, and services.
And just in case you, like me, are ever curious about how things work behind the scenes — who’s putting together these sites, what vendors are they using, and how do they make it work? — we’ve assembled a list of people who are rad. (Psst… none of these people are paying or compensating us for saying nice things. They don’t even know we’re saying them.)
People Who Are Rad
Nathan Rhoads is the owner and artist behind Studio 513, specializing in graphic design and contemporary art. From step one, Nathan was easy to work with, listened well, valued my time, stayed within budget, and delivered beyond my hopes. Greg adds, “Digital designs and original files built with the web in mind, that scale from full-page for printing to browser tab icons, are not easy. I know from long experience. Studio 513 delivered excellent quality, creative designs, and most importantly to me, files I didn’t have to rework to fit into our site. I just resized them and combined the pieces as needed, no fine tuning required.” Thank you, Nathan!
Aaron Blew is the owner of Blew Tech and, we are thrilled to announce, our new site host. Unlike our previous fiasco with a big box hosting site, Aaron offers only one level of support – Level AWESOME. Competitively priced and over-the-top service. On a weekend. Before a holiday. While he put a toddler down for a nap. Mad skills! And a big thank you to Jen Blew, Aaron’s wife and 5 Kids blog reader, who contacted me during that big box fiasco to let us know Aaron could help. She was exactly right.
Joel Bock is the owner of Joel Bock Photography. Thank you, Joel, for making headshots Not Awful, for taking pictures of me standing in chicken poo and for wiping mud all over my face. You’re one of my favorites.
Jean-Sebastien Morisset wrote the NextGEN Facebook Open Graph+ Wordpress plugin which helps blogs interface with Facebook. Greg writes, “I contacted Jean-Sebastien over the weekend, wondering if he might consider adding a feature to his plugin. He responded hours later, added the feature to the free version, and wrote custom code for us to use it, including documentation. Of course, we then bought the Pro version because that’s how the Internet works in Geek Nirvana – you find a problem “interesting,” solve it, and people pay you out of appreciation. Saved me a week of late nights, and made me Beth’s hero. Everyone’s a winner!”
Greg would also like to thank Coke Zero: “I don’t do coffee. That sound you just heard? That was the entire Pacific Northwest gasping as they prepare to disown me. My caffeine delivery method of choice is cold and carbonated. Without it, I would not have made it through the weekend (or Monday).”
And I would like to thank Greg Woolsey who spends a truly ridiculous amount of time solving all of my technological crises and without whom I would not have made it through the weekend. Or Monday. Or this very strange and wonderful life.
……….
46 responses to “Welcome to Our New Home!”
Beth,
I was trying to think of something funny and clever, but instead I will get mushy as I lie here in my jammies listening to my 2yr old snore! The truth is I found your blog right after my kid was born and I was in throws of the “weepies” which later led to a bit of PPD and I feel like you were my first momma friend (I lost my blog following virginity here at put down the urinal cakes). So, because I’m getting tired of typing on my phone, I will end this with a big thank you and a welcome to the Blew family and congratulations on your new home.