Breaking up is hard to do.

I've been thinking about this blog. I'm not hanging up the blog. I like writing it. But I've realized that there are two distinct groups of people who read it. There are my friends and family, those who know me personally, and there are people I've encountered through other blogs that I read, primarily crafting and family/mama blogs. And in a way, I write to both.

Then I started thinking about the blogs that I read. I read two kinds of blogs, and they correspond, not surprisingly, to the people who read mine. I read the blogs of people whom I know personally, friends near and far, as a way to keep in touch with them and because I care very much about them and what is happening in their lives. I also read the blogs of people whom I do not know in real life, but who share my interest in crafting or my passion for family.

So then I was thinking about how I don't read the "family update" blogs of people I don't know. About how the people I've met through crafting and family* blogs are not reading to keep up with my personal life. About how my friends, except for maybe a couple, are not reading to see what I've been sewing. Small as it is, my readership is divided. Which finally led me to the decision...

It's time to split the blog.

I'll keep this one much as it is now. It has always been primarily a personal blog, the comings and goings of my family, things I find interesting or amusing, general life happenings. Not much will change around here, really. I just won't be posting much about my (or anyone else's) creative endeavors.

To accommodate my desire to write about creative domesticity, I've started a new blog. (Yes, yes, I started a new blog once before and it quickly went by the wayside. I blame morning sickness.) You can find it here or in my sidebar. That is where I will post sewing, crochet and other craft projects; home projects; birthday and holiday ideas; ideas and thoughts on raising children, making a home, and being a mindful global citizen. Pretty normal crafty mama blog business.

Of course you are all welcome to read whatever you want. One, the other, both - whatever strikes your fancy. And of course there will be some overlap. I can't compartmentalize my life so precisely. I am excited to separate the two, though. I've always felt a strange uneasiness about this blog somehow, like I'm trying to combine two things that weren't meant to be combined. I've wanted to join more wholeheartedly into the crafting and creative family blog community, but have also wanted to have a place to just talk about things of interest to my family and friends. Divide and conquer.

I hope you'll join me at one place or another!

*I don't have the right descriptive phrase to differentiate well between what I've referred to here as family update blogs and family blogs. I count family update blogs to be those written by individuals who want a place to post family stories, pictures and updates that will be of interest to their loved ones, and as a way to chronicle their daily life. I count family blogs, or mama blogs, to be those usually written to a wider audience, dealing more with the commonalities of families - specifically mothers - in general. These naturally contain stories of individual families, but usually within a context of issues that concern families and mothers at large. Craft blogs are another creature altogether, and are pretty self-explanatory; but many family/mama blogs double as craft blogs, as mine will do. Does that make sense?