Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Monday, April 22, 2019

Earth Day - Blogging Update


Getting Crunchy, 2019.
I can't believe I started this blog a little over 12 years ago. A lot has occurred since then. Most notably, in the last year my husband passed away from cancer. I know a lot of my readers followed the early days of his diagnosis and treatment and provided me with so much emotional support. I can't even relay to you how important and meaningful that was for me to be able to mentally survive such an excruciatingly difficult ordeal for my family.

After 11 years of fighting multiple myeloma, my husband passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family. I didn't post about it here because, honestly, I found it harder to tell you all than it was to just do a brief post on Facebook months after the fact and then take a long break from social media and figure out what I was going to do next with my life, without making too many big decisions.

In the intervening time since his passing, I was also laid off from work. I've spent the last two months taking a long-needed break, spending time with my kids and trying to regroup and recover from so many years of medical trauma and stress.

It's been such a roller coaster over the last year. I had switched jobs from a very stable government position to a volatile startup. During my first week of work, my husband's health dramatically took a turn for the worse and he never recovered. In the last year I've gone from having two sources of full-time income to none but I am, fortunately, in the position to take my time to discern what the next chapter of my life will look like.

On one hand, my identity is very much associated with my skills in software development. But, my heart truly lies in the realm of sustainability, green living and engaging with the rest of the world on these topics. So, it seems more than fitting to restart up my blog on Earth Day.

My goal over the next 5 months is to get back into blogging and see where that leads me. One of the reasons I stopped blogging before was because I didn't feel like I had anything new to say or contribute. Because of the changes in my life that, too, has changed and I have a lot I'd like to share with you all and can't wait to tell you all the things I am doing and have planned.

Harkening back to my first blog post, not much has changed and I hope to continue the engagement and, hopefully, the entertainment!

"This blog will cover my various wanderings through trying to add sustainable habits to my life. Things that make me feel less like I'm treading all over mother nature and perhaps lessening my footprint, carbon emissions and all that fun stuff.

In the meantime, I'll try to keep things marginally entertaining."

- The Crunchy Chicken, March 2007

10 comments:

Frogdancer Jones said...

What an awful year for you and your family!
I'm glad you have the wherewithal to be able to take a break and start to breathe again.

Bucky said...

Welcome back. You've been missed.

Trevofthenorth said...

Good to see you’re back, I’m very sorry for your loss.

Crunchy Chicken said...

Thanks for all your support, everyone. I'm looking forward to blogging again!

Tammy Taylor said...

I've followed your story for years, and I'm so sorry for your loss. Welcome back to the blogging world, I've always loved your posts and look forward to reading more!

Amy A said...

I’m so sorry for your loss. I’ve been through the same thing, losing my husband in the last year.

Kim from Milwaukee said...

I'm so glad you're back, Deanna, and very sorry to hear of your husband's passing. I'm glad you took time for yourself and your kids and I look forward to walking this green path with you again!!

Ellen said...

Welcome back -- and so sorry about your loss. I'm glad you have the option to take some time for thinking about the next chapter.

El Gaucho said...

Sorry for your loss and condolences to you and your family. Your blogging was missed and we're glad to have you back posting again.

Cheryl said...

Hi Deanna. We use to chat occasionally way back when I was blogging under the name "Free Range Living", but it's been a loooong time. I took an extended break while we built our home and homestead, and have also recently decided to try and get back into blogging (hoo boy, have things changed!).
Anyway, I was just thinking about you and wondered if you were still posting and how you were doing. I'm so, so sorry to hear that Hank has passed.

I look forward to seeing where this next chapter leads you.