Antsy Pantsy

School is almost out, Summer weather is officially here, they're opening up the neighborhood pool next weekend (yay!) and I have a SERIOUS case of Ants-in-the-pants. Why, you ask? A lot of things, I guess.

I'm antsy about my submissions. The time an agent takes to get back to you now is about 7000% longer than it was ten years ago.

I'm antsy for school to be out. Summer is the best. I will have more time to write. ;-)

I'm antsy because my mom is having knee surgery Monday. On the other knee. I just want her to be all healthy and bionic already.

I'm antsy because I have about 958363868 things on my To Do list, and none of them are things I want to do.

I'm antsy because I'm turning older soon and I feel about 20 years younger than I am. I don't know if it's the gift of emotional immaturity, or what, but I do NOT feel my age.

I could go on, but I don't want to bore everyone. Just know I'm "antsy" and I have a lot going on.

Scratch scratch.

Shame on Me!

I have seriously neglected the blog! I used to be such a poster--no joke, I posted EVERY day. I was on fire. I was funny. I had lots of stuff to talk about. 

Then my kids got older. I know it's not much of an excuse, but since as you all know I am not the best at budgeting my time, all I do lately is run around/drive people around/run errands etc. etc..

I'm sure there are moms with a bazillion more kids than me, who have all the time in the world. And they document it all on Pinterest. But I'm not one of those moms. I'm a writer. My writing time is precious to me, and my kids are precious to me and sometimes it's like a big old Sophie's Choice movie (okay bad example) because I have to choose and neglect one or the other. And I don't want to neglect EITHER.

By the way, can I just say, NEVER volunteer to be a room mom for a Kindergarten class? 'Nuff said on that subject.

So, anyway, here's me, tentatively peeking in and giving you a wave, not promising I'll blog every day, but I will certainly be BETTER at it.

I think I've come to the point where I've realized that my life really is more mundane than exciting (I save all that for my adventures on paper) and who wants to read about MUNDANE? Me either. Not unless I'm emotionally invested in that person, do I want to hear about their trip to the vet and what they ate for lunch. Seriously.

Okay. The house is quiet, kids and hubby are at school and work, and the possibilities are endless! Which one will I choose??

Soccer Tryouts are Brutal. Oh, and Pinterest Makes you Fat.

Thing Three has been at soccer tryouts for his middle school. For the life of me, I don't understand why they allow the 8th graders to run around with the 6th graders. It's suspect. Why, you ask? Well, A) 8th-graders are hulking MEN compared to little 6th-graders, and B) they are OUT TO GET THEM.

Case in point: Thing Three (who is in 6th grade) was looking a little green around the gills when I picked him up today. Apparently a big hairy 8th grader had bulldozed into him not once but twice during tryouts, twisting his ankle the first time and literally smashing him in the head...with HIS head, the second time.

Thing Three was dizzy and in pain, and I hurried him home and got ice on his head and checked his pupils and had him repeat all sorts of trivial information. Head injuries are SCARY. Especially when administered by LARGE 8TH GRADERS.

Can you tell I'm a little miffed?

Anyway, in other news, I have decided Pinterest makes you fat. Because if you get on it, all you see are pins of double-chocolate-fudge-custard-caramel-peanut butter brownies and the like. You know the kind. "Made with only FOUR ingredients!" (said ingredients being Fat, Lard, Crisco and Cocoa Powder.)

Even if I'm not hungry when I get on Pinterest, I leave with about 907847 new recipes printed up, and I'm ravenous. As in, Eat-My-Own-Computer-Mouse ravenous. It's not fair. Yet I can't stay away...

Hubby had surgery Monday to correct a hernia. Nothing really major, but I have to babysit because he's totally loopy on painkillers and not responsible for his actions. It's been kind of entertaining, actually. Is that bad?

And now, to sleep.

Crockpot Love.

It's one of Man's (or was it Woman's?) most awesome inventions. A pot you can dump almost anything food-ish in, plug it in and not worry about it, and when you come home after a busy day, voila! You have dinner!

It's the Crockpot. I have four of them. A really large oval one for when I do my 10-pound pork roasts for pulled pork, a large one for our family Sunday dinners, a medium one for a smaller meat/whatever fare, and a small one for queso, lil' smokies, etc. etc.

LOVE THEM. Crockpots make my life so much easier!!

What's crazy is the STUFF you can do with them. You can bake bread. You can bake brownies. You can do things you didn't think you could do! The possibilities are endless!!

Now I just need to get a crockpot with a TIMER on it--that would be ideal!

Crockpots Rock!

Hold On, Let Me Put Away Henry VIII's Milk...

HAHAHAHAHA!!! (Found this on Pinterest)

SNOW? What???

Got a nice little inch of snow last night. Which is WAY rare for where we live. I don't even have snow boots or gear for my kids, that's how long it's been. My maltipoo, Maggie, didn't know what to make of the snow this morning when my son took her out to go to the bathroom. Of course it's going to be 50 degrees today so it will all be melted, but it's kind of cool to see white lawns and rooftops for a change. :-)

School wasn't cancelled today, thank heaven, because my daughter has midterm exams this week, and her Algebra exam is today. Otherwise she would have had to wait until Wednesday next week, because the kids have a four-day weekend. Yes, we're being total bums and not going anywhere--just hanging out at home.

I am looking forward to the weekend. Granted we have sports games for half the day on Saturday, but that's normal for us. Sunday I want to be a slug. That's my favorite day!

I have a personal trainer I've started going to twice a week, and MAN is he kicking my butt! Literally! I can't even lift my arms to the steering wheel to drive my car home after our sessions. And the next day, I sit down like an oooooolllllldddd lady. We'll see if I get any results.

It's Friday! Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. Stay warm!

I Think I Just Threw Up In My Mouth...

'Nuff said.

Monday Monday..

Mondays are always crazy days for me--as far as running around. I usually volunteer on Mondays too at Thing 4's school--today will be the last Monday. I have a Personal Trainer I will be going to on Mondays and Thursdays, so I guess Wednesdays will be my "volunteer" day.

It's funny how my 5-year old LOVES IT when I come to his class and chaperone field trips and help out (I'm the room mom, it's actually kinda fun) and my middle schoolers and high-schooler don't say a PEEP about me volunteering at THEIR schools.

Are they embarrassed? Is it "uncool" now to have a mom who helps out in the office or media center or sign-in desk? I guess. Better enjoy my 5-year old's appreciation while I can!

I am glad it's January. Things are calmer. All the holiday stuff is down at the house, and without it even the house seems calmer (except now I get to deal with Valentines Day stuff SCREAMING SCREAMING SCREAMING at me in the grocery store aisles...mmmm....candy hearts...wait...what?"

...ANYWAY, I am on a very focused mission to de-clutter and dejunk the house. As I do every New year/Spring. House first, garages last. I look at the state of my third car garage and I just...can't. Not until I've tackled the house. (Although I DID put all the Christmas stuff back in one section, stacked on shelves in neatly-labeled plastic tubs. NEXT Christmas I will know exactly where everything is! Hooray!)

It's still cold, though. This morning was low 40's. But this week will be nearly 70 degrees every day! I am SO fine with that, but no more comfort food for us! I have fallen completely in love with my new Keurig (Hubby insisted we get one but since we aren't coffee drinkers I didn't see the point, until I realized you can make HOT COCOA and HERBAL TEA with it) and those little K-cups are awesome. Although there's something tactile about having my mug of herbal tea, bag tag out. I still do things old school that way. But I won't give up my hot drinks until about March. That's when things really start to warm up around here!

I just realized I blogged about a whole lot of nothing. I better get showered and get to the school! My 5-year old awaits!! ;-)

ORGANIZATION

It's a daunting word, sometimes. Every January I get what I call the Organizing Itch. I want to dejunk the house, and make the most of the space I have. Home Depot is my friend. I get storage tubs and shelves and what-not-thingies to help save space. There is a lot of wasted space in houses, you know? Like most closets. There's like FIVE FEET of clearance above the top shelf. How many people actually use it?

These past two days have been stay-home days. Cleaning, unpacking, washing and yes, organizing. And I've been getting some writing in, too. I went to a book club meeting in Idaho where my book was the featured book, and it was nice to answer questions and talk about the story. Some of the ladies had really good questions. And of course they all asked when the sequel would be ready. I've gotten about 5K out on...not sure exactly what it is, but I guess if it's good enough to be considered a sequel, then that's what I'll go with. :-)

We are having a Sports dilemma. Thing Three, who is my most active athlete, has been doing Taekwondo since summer. He's advanced quite quickly, and has also been invited to do Elite Sparring. Here's the problem, he is also doing basketball this season, and for the next two months every single one of his games are Saturday at 8 or 9am. Guess when Elite Sparring meets? Yep. Saturdays at 9am. He wanted to quit basketball, and he still sort of does, but he also loves playing it. What to do...what to do...

HAPPY NEW 2013!!

It's kind of freaking me out, how quickly 2012 flew out the door. Does anyone else feel this way??


I was a total Scrooge this holiday season. I was so busy, I didn't send out any cards or gifts, or make cookies and deliver them like I usually do. I was basically just trying to keep my head above water, and it was very difficult.

Christmas break was well-needed. We spent it with Hubby's family in Idaho, and a few days we spent in the mountains snowmobiling and hanging out in an awesome cabin. It was amazing. A little too cold for this North Carolina girl, but amazing all the same.

And now we're back home. I have been working my tail off since this morning and officially erased all traces of Christmas. Everything is moved back and packed up and put away. Now I need to dust and vacuum and tackle the HUGE/ENORMOUS/COLOSSAL pile of dirty clothes we pulled out of all seven of our suitcases. :-P

2013 will be interesting. I just hope it's a "good" interesting. I have written down some goals for myself, and looking at what I'd like to accomplish seems reasonable, only I have to make some life changes to accommodate these goals. Not so easy.

One goal is to definitely blog more. and WRITE. I have a story mulling around in my head and a few other ideas I need to jot down. And I need to start submitting again, now that agents are digging their way out from underneath their slush piles and open to submissions once more.

We all have head colds. It really sucks. Other than that, I'm glad to be home and I am determined to get this house organized. We've been in it a year and a half and it's TIME.

Gotta get 'er done!!