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A Difficult Decision

To my very faithful BATW travelers and bloggy friends,

This is a really hard post to write; however, it is about two months overdue.

I have decided that after 6 months of taking you all around the world, it is time that I park the plane for good. As of this week, I will no longer be maintaining this site as I have been since we started. BATW is at a point where it requires more time and creativity than I am willing or able to devote to it. I thought I could maintain two blogs, bloggy friendships, real life mommy duties, friendships, and outside interests, but alas, I can't. I don't like being a slave to anything, but blogging is starting to be like that for me. It is fun, but it can quickly become a consumer of precious time. My kids are still relatively small and are growing up fast. They deserve 100% of my attention...free from distraction...not tied to a computer. (And I need my sleep! ) I am busy with them, their activities, and alot of volunteering I do at their school. All things that need to be my priority right now. So in realizing that something's gotta give, it was a no brainer. It just took me two months to pull the trigger.

So here's what I'm gonna do. For now, I am going to continue to link anyone who wants to be listed. This will become the ultimate blog roll which is what I know some of you use it for. If the traffic and requests to be linked fall off, I will re-evaluate what to do with the site at that time. I know that alot of you have found other bloggers through this site, and I don't want to take away that vehicle for connection. At the end of the day, it's all about the connections.

It's very difficult to make a decision like this especially when the whole thing started from a simple blog post on my personal blog and grew to something that now has over 700 bloggers involved. I have made alot of great friends through BATW, and I do plan on maintaining my personal blog more now that I have freed up my time and brainpower to write over there.

So I'm not saying goodbye for good...I'm just saying "I'll see you around."

A Fine Line

Our guest blogger today has been on every single BATW trip we have taken. Every single one. She has been a great encourager to me and has become a friend. When I asked her to guest blog she hyperventilated. "What shall I write? I can't do this. When do you need it? ACK!!" But true to who Julie @ Journey To family is, she pulled through with flying colors and whipped up a post for us that I think is spot on and funny. Because she is always spot on and funny. Check it out....

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A Fine Line

So I've been thinking about something lately and I'm hoping you all can help me out. Where do you draw the line between having fun and being crazy? Say you really enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series. I'm sure it would be perfectly normal to own all the books and Harry Potter movies. But what if you took it a step further? What if you owned a Harry Potter wand? What if it was a light-up wand? What if you owned two, ok six light-up wands so that every one in the family and one of the cats can play Harry Potter together? What if you have the Beedle the Bard Collector's Edition book?

How about a bunch of Harry Potter figures and toys? And the Harry Potter 20Q game, that you keep on top of your computer so it's within reach at a moment's notice? What if you used crystal letter stickers to spell out sayings from Harry Potter like "I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good" and "Mischief Managed" on the front of your 24" iMac? And Harry Potter ornaments on your Christmas tree? That's normal, right?

What if you become a fan of the Twilight book series? Say you had books 1 and 2 in paperback, but books three and four in hardback. It would be perfectly normal to re-purchase books 1 and 2 in hardback so that you have a matching set, right? And it would be perfectly normal to go see the Twilight movie when it came out, right? Even on opening night at the midnight showing? What about seeing the movie four times in the first two weeks? What about playing the score and/or the movie soundtrack every day? Or owning one, ok eight Twilight shirts? How about if you ask everyone you know through your blog, Facebook and Twitter to help you find Twilight band-aids that were so hard to find (but are now back in stock at Hot Topic online and will hopefully be arriving tomorrow)? How about if you convince your husband that even though you have the books at home, you still NEED to buy the Twilight book for your iPhone, just in case you NEED to re-read it when you are waiting in line. Or driving. And you're still within the boundaries of "normal" if you own Twilight perfume?

How about Edward Cullen Body Shimmer, Twilight trading cards and an Edward Cullen action figure?

What if you have a favorite color, like purple, for example. And say you like purple so much that you have several shirts in this color. A purple KitchenAid mixer. A purple Dyson vacuum. A purple chair in the living room. You paint the dining room walls purple. And the laundry room walls too. Still ok, right? What if, when you need new clothes, you go on to websites like Banana Republic and Gap and type "purple" in the search bar, selecting your clothes from the choices that come up? What if you bug your husband for years until he finally cracks and lets you paint the entire exterior of the house purple?

What if you have a section of your hair dyed purple? Or get a full size purple Christmas tree, pre-lit with purple lights? What if you hang purple icicle lights on your house at Christmas time? That's perfectly normal, right?

What if you're a fan of the television show, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Of course it would be normal to have all seven seasons on DVD. But what if you had a Buffy action figure? What if you had two, ok sixteen action figures? And you have your husband install very beautiful Pottery Barn shelves next to your computer so you can display those action figures? What if you have a Buffy calendar on the wall above your computer? What about a Buffy clock, pencils, lunch box, comics, mugs and shirts? What if you have several prop replicas from the show like the Orb of Thesulah, full-size slayer scythe and some jewelry featured on the show? That's ok, right? But what if you got a life-size cardboard stand up of Buffy? What if you nickname her "CB" (Cardboard Buffy), and take pictures of her in different rooms of the house?

What if you take pictures of CB in front of your purple house, wearing a Harry Potter scarf and a Twilight wool cap?

Sigh. That last bit set me over the edge, didn't it? THAT was the fine line between having fun and being crazy. And I think I just crossed it.

Got Another Funny One for Ya

A couple of weeks ago, when I sent out my SOS for a hostess, Emma @ Musings of the Mindless Bantererer sent me an email letting me know that I could use one of her posts. I didn't read it right away so I didn't know what it was about...until early last week. Oh my word. Yet again, I had found a winner. Yup, another hysterically funny post. So let's head on out to Utah for another layover to read Target and the Stinky Pee.

The title alone makes me laugh.

Out loud.

A lot.

Heading to Jersey, Baby!

Our hostess today is so clever! She hooked us up on a very interesting tour of New Jersey and then did something I thought was so ingenious! Wanna know what it is? Well, then clickety click on over to Jenners @ Life with a Little One and More and find out! Let's just say she is spreading the love ;)

Enjoy!