Thankful Thursday ✽ I Redesigned My Blog!

"What I need is a more grateful heart to the giver of every good and perfect gift." -Stonewall Jackson

Thankful today for... paper and pen, and nicely put together to-do lists (even if they mock me for how much I thought I could handle in a day, haha...) - that Daddy shared his photoshop kit with me, because I seriously use it all the time - for my laptop that I use to run my Etsy, my blog, and to keep up with all my long distance friends - for my bed, with it's new blue comforter and even newer blue sheets (I've wanted blue since I was ten, haha! But then I really liked some purple ones we found when Mama and Daddy bought our own house 8 years ago, so... yeah, this is a long time dream come true ;)...) - Daddy finding my fall outfits in the garage (that will teach me to switch out seasonal clothes... haha!) - a visit from Daddy's family last week - a working vacuum cleaner - lessons from the old testament - the special needs respite programs churches around here hold - nutritious food - "Anne of Avonlea" - natural hair cleaning methods - laughter - my water tumblers - salted caramel - to have finally posted my October wrap up post (Tori very correctly said, I might as well start November's... oh, it's been going for a week now, but it will probably still be late ;)...) - my new blog design :)!

 Soooooo, did anybody catch the new blog design yesterday :)?!!! If you haven't been around for very long, you might not know that I used to blog at "Home Life", rather than "Forget Not His Benefits". That blog was started November 3rd, 2006, and went through sooooo many changes and phases. And it's early years are honestly laughable now, but everyone starts somewhere ;). Some things, some personal preference and some due to unfortunate circumstances, made me decide to start afresh four and a half years ago, and I designed my new blog completely around an online blog background template, planning to never change it again.

Ha.

This summer, it grew legs and disappeared. Actually, I think the host site did something to it. But either way, I was distraught. My never redesigned blog was going to need some major redesigning, because I can't even find the old background anymore. It was left blank and ugly. Did I mention I've never liked the thought of a plain white blog? My own blog became one with no consent of mine overnight.

At first I though it was a glitch, like the few months prior when I could NOT view my own blog home page, even though y'all could. But it never came back, and I realized that I had to do something. I took down my header, because my family picture was outdated and it looked pathetic as the only thing designed on the page. I added some flower emojis just to center my title, but it aggravated me that on anything but my computer, it warped it so it wasn't really centered. It was a temporary fix, because I didn't know what I wanted to do with it. And then I kept blogging, and realized the flower emojis were actually showing up as my name, and it looked tacky. So I decided it HAD to get finished, and when I thought about it, you know what? I decided I like having a white blog. It might not be the cutest blog background ever... but it looks clean and neat, and it matches my mobile version. It doesn't look seasonal, and it can't disappear on me (if it does, my whole blog is gone, so I have bigger issues... hmmm, should back it up again...) And the best part to me was that none of my pictures clash with my background! I know that sounds silly, but it's the one thing about any blog design I've had that I have always hated, haha!

Sooooo, I designed the new header yesterday! I know it's very simple, but I actually like it better than the more involved ones I have done before, and it's in my favorite font, which is fun ;). I changed up my description, and my sidebar. My labels are down at the bottom now, where they can still be helpful if you want them, but they don't clutter what you are stuck looking at. Annnnd, I updated my "About Me" page (just added a new family picture, that if you've been around for a couple weeks you've already seen, and updated my age; hi, new followers, I'm actually 20, haha!). So, I just wanted to mention that. *eyes my screed* you have got to get better at the length of time it takes you to mention something, Bri...

And I was going to comment on the 18,500 pageviews y'all have given me, but it's already gone up, so oh well ;). Haha! Thanks for caring about my little home on the internet <3. Each of you readers bring me a smile!!!