Blogs. I love them. Once upon a time I limited my regular blog reading to the number of links I could squeeze into a toolbar on my computer screen. In an effort to cram as many as I could on the one line, I reduced the names to one or two letters. Eventually, I caved and signed up with Google Reader to have blog posts collected in one place so that I didn’t have to spend time loading each site individually.

Well, as you know, I’ve been a bit busy since December 9th, and blog reading fell to the wayside. I didn’t do it. I missed it, but there is a limit to what a person can do. So what do you think happened in my Google Reader? Blog posts piled up. How many do you think I had? Go ahead, guess! Come on, play. Guess. Then scroll. I was on the blog-reading wagon for about 10 weeks.

I had 431 unread blog posts waiting for me. Ugh. That’s like the blog equivalent of the Great Wall of China–impossible to get through. I really, really, really wanted to read all 431 posts, but, alas, it was overwhelming. Especially with current deadlines approaching.

So I did the only reasonable thing I could think to do. I “marked all as read.” I gave up all hope of catching up. Instead, I’m jumping back into a game that’s been going on without me. I feel a little lost and left out. I wish I were participating in Sharon B’s Take It Further Challenge, but I missed registering. Of course, I can still take the challenges, and I hope I will.

But I’m back in business with my blog reading. For the time being.