The beginning of the end?

My patience with Blogger (Google, really) is nearly at the end. The whole picture-thing has really pushed me over the edge. This morning I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and pay the nominal monthly fee in order to continue to post pictures here. My rationale was that it would give us a larger amount of storage and we would be able to use it to save our photos that didn't involve the laptop's for over-filled hard drive. After two hours of frustration, and J. rescuing the laptop from me (because I was so totally ready to destroy it with a hammer), I cancelled the subscription.

Because I am an unreformed letter writer when something has annoyed me, I had to let them know why I was cancelling my subscription... just so they'd know. Here it is:

I'm cancelling my subscription, but thought I'd tell you why before I did. Oh, let me count the ways... and I've only had it for 2 hours. 

1. I didn't really want it in the first place, but was bullied into it because I use blogger and would like to put photos on my blog. But to do so now, I need to pay for more storage. 

2. I finally bit the bullet and went ahead and subscribed. But, your product, on top of having no choice about it, is completely unusable. I can't even look at my web album page (once I manage to find it) because the prompt box asking me to create a Google profile will not go away. No matter what I click... even the options I don't want. And, I don't want to create a Google profile. 

3. The whole Blogger/Google-thing feels just a bit too Big Brother to me. I don't really want all my information given to you. Sorry, but the least you could do is pay me for it rather than the other way around. 

4. And it has back-fired completely. I am seriously considering taking down my blog entirely or switching to another blogging service. But that certainly won't before I've blogged about the whole thing. You won't come off well. I've had it with all of you, so no satisfied customer here. If your goal was to create animosity with all of this you have succeeded remarkably well. Congratulations.

Perhaps I still need to cool off some, but it has made me reconsider why I blog. I realize a big piece of it is because it has been a great way for my parents to keep up with their grandchildren and all that they are doing. And pictures are a big part of that. It has also been a great way to archive my family's life. And I enjoy those aspects. These are also the aspects of the blog that I can transfer to another method.

I also enjoy writing. I hope that through my writing that I have encouraged other people to take homemaking seriously, to consider that possibilities of having a larger family, and to advocate for adoption and orphans. But recently I have been wondering if this whole blogging-thing is what I should continue doing. Sometimes it seems a bit self-absorbed, and I could certainly apply the time to other things.

I have considered moving it all to another platform, such as Word Press, but my technical ability (and the desire for technical ability) is incredibly limited. I can handle typing and hitting 'publish', but not much beyond that. I have no idea what it would take to transfer it all (even if that's possible), or how much it would cost, or anything, really. Anyone have any ideas about that?

I'm probably just still feeling frustrated and this all will pass. I don't do frustrated well. Just ask my mother to tell you the number of times I sent my chemistry text book sailing across the kitchen when I didn't understand something right away. And people claim I'm patient... Ha!

And all of this because I wanted to share some pictures of L. in her Coco Chanel outfit worn with, of course, red cowboy boots. You'll just have to use your imaginations. (Edited to add: A friend reminded me I could post a picture on fb, which I did. If you want to see it, you can go to the Ordinary Time facebook page.)