My original Xanga account is SherylM.  I moved here from MDD for reasons I can’t even remember.  I think it was a fear of copyright issues or something.  Whatever.

I purchased a lifetime account here expecting that I would always want a blog – and I like that this can be public, protected or private. (Though I’ve only written about 3 private blogs in all that time – mostly because it was just too personal to share and I needed to get it out of my system.  I used to keep a paper diary for that reason.)

So, one day, inspired by “Clean Sweep” I decided to start a photo journal of my desire to clean the clutter out of my house, and started my NotMarthaStewart blog.  I ended up buying a lifetime account for that one, too. (Don’t ask why – at this point, if I had a reason I don’t remember.)

Then Xanga gave us the opportunity to change our blog names.  I decided I was done with the “Clean Sweep” blog and was going through some tough times.  I needed a public blog and a private (protected) blog.  So I searched for a name that would equate to “Singer” because I love to sing.  I found the Greek Goddess of poetry, Calliope, whose name meant “Beautiful Voice” and who taught her daughter to sing.  Unfortuantely Calliope was already taken here, so I looked for variations on the spelling and ended up with Kallioph – the only one that wasn’t taken. (And, as it turned out, Calliope was the Latin spelling, and Kallio’ph was the Green spelling.)

So for about two years, I’ve kept two blogs.  Kallioph was my public blog, and SherylM was my protected blog.  Now I feel like my life has turned around, is heading in a good direction, and I don’t need two blogs.

So for the time being, I’m going to post all of my blogs in SherylM, and save Kallioph – for what I don’t know.  Maybe for a time in the future when I’ll need two blogs again.

If you are a subscriber here but not on SherylM, please head over.  I’m going to unlock my account.

Been a while since I updated here in my public blog.  Lots of stuff has gone on in my life.  Here it is in bullet points:

• In January
  
  • I met up with Roger – a guy I dated in high school but hadn’t seen in 35 years
  • My sister was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
• In February Mac asked me for a divorce
• In March I started a new job
• In April
  • I bought a new house in Michigan
  • Roger moved in with me
  • My boss agreed to let me work at home in Michigan most of the time and only commute to Chicago for staff meetings and to train clients (approx once a week)
• In May, we celebrated my sister Melanie’s 52nd birthday – turns out it is her last
• In June we celebrated my other sister Debbie’s 50th birthday
• In July we went camping – one of the things Melanie always wanted to do
• In August
  
  • we had to put Melanie under hospice care but she was able to stay at home
  • we buried Jerry, a good friend and someone I knew since high school
  • we buried Roger’s dad
• In September, we buried Melanie
• In October, Roger asked me to marry him
• In November, I’ve spent most of the month Christmas shopping and planning my wedding
• In December
  • We’re going to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra
  • We’re going to see Wicked
  • We’ll be doing Christmas Eve at my house
• In January
  • We’re getting married
  • Going on a two-week Caribbean cruise