I'm feeling MUCH better! I'm going to edit my story this weekend! I'm going to write a kick-butt query and I'm going to get it OUT there! I'm not letting the doubt demons rule my universe!!!

Have a happy weekend, everyone!

Love and Lust

'Nuff Said.

I feel better--but now I have a ton of running around to do today. Thing One's basketball game got cancelled (there's a band concert at the school so that would be difficult) so at least tonight will be nice and quiet.

I have decided to stop watching the news at night. It's very depressing, now. All they're saying is it will be ten years before we're out of this recession. With a husband working in the retail business, that is very scary news.

I bought crayons and a dinosaur colorbook for the baby, and we started coloring yesterday. Now he asks me to "clrrrr" every ten minutes or so. And of COURSE he'll make a few marks on a page and want to go on to another one. So I color with him. I've forgotten how therapeutic coloring can be. I was having as much fun as him!

Sorry, boring post today. I'm a gimp when I'm sick. Can't help it!

Okay, SERIOUSLY...

I'm sick again. Yes, AGAIN. I was "just" sick a week ago. A nasty cold, and aches and everything. I finally got rid of it.

Then Hubby comes home from New York with a NEW SUPER BUG we haven't had yet, and guess who had chills and aches and felt AWFUL last night?

Yeah. ME.

It's not fair. I mean, I get that it's February and everything, and EVERYONE is sick, but this is just ridiculous. Now the cycle gets to start all over again, becuase when *I* get sick, I pass it to everyone, no matter how many times I wash my hands, or use hand sanitizer, or spray Lysol. I'm the caretaker. I feed everyone.

I'm not looking forward to another few weeks of this.

I was a little giddy yesterday--I thought of all three titles for my series, and I'm very excited. They all make sense, according to the outlines. And last night, while I was curled up in the Guest Room/A.K.A. Sickie Room in my drug-induced stupor, I thought of the opening scene for Book Two.

WOO HOO! More Zycam for Lara!

You gotta love those notes you get with your kids from the school: "Your child may have been exposed to the following illness" and they attach a sheet with "strep" or "lice" or "Influenza" only they use the technical terms and you think you need to watch your kid 24/7 to see if they sprout a new foot out of their head or something.

Yeah, we've gotten a lot of those, lately. Winter is such a crappy time for being sick. Or being in Public school. Although I would imagine private schools have their own share of germs. ;-)

Since I have no desire to home school my children, (I am not an advocate merely becaue *I* could never do it) I have to just bundle them up, teach them to wash their hands, and pray they don't have run-ins with the sick kids. Although I cringe when I hear stuff like:

"Mom! Guess what? Tommy threw up on me on the bus today!"

I had a sad lot as a kid. I was a head taller than all the other girls, so my teachers naturally assumed I was more responsible. (HA!) So, whenever a girl threw up on herself in class, GUESS who was chosen to walk her to the bathroom and help her get cleaned up? Yep. Moi. I can think of four different times, at least, during elementary school. I'm sure my mother would have loved to hear about that.

I made a small change to my story yesterday--Hubby is reading it and mostly he's driving me nuts (because he's a pragmatic adult and the story was written for kids who still can suspend disbelief) but he had a good point about one of my characters, so I made the change. Way to go, Hubby! I promised him I'd buy him a Clive Cussler book if he got through my story. He's such a trooper, especially since YA with copious amounts of Teen Angst isn't exactly his "cup of tea."

Lots to do today. I'd best get to it.

Whirlwind Weekend

Whew. You know how you have those weekends where you run around a lot and collapse into bed exhausted at night?

Yeah, that was this weekend. As a stay home mom, the phrase "TGIF" really means nothing to me. What *I* really look forward to--are MONDAYS. So I guess "TGIM" is what I would say. As in Thank Goodness It's MONDAY!!!

Because on Mondays, Hubby and most of the kids are at work/school, and I can get the house back together from the weekend, and have some peace and sanity. Sort of. With a whiny toddler entering the "terrible twos" I'm not sure if peace will be achieved, but at least there's only one whiny toddler, as opposed to FOUR of them! ;-)

Thing Three's last official indoor soccer game was Saturday, and so we have a breather until Spring soccer starts up next month. THAT will be interesting--we'll be freezing our butts off. Oh, and did I tell you we had a blizzard Saturday and it was only ten degrees on Sunday? Eight inches of snow, and Hubby had to snowblow, twice. Because the high winds blew everything back onto the driveway.

Hubby was like, TO HECK WITH THIS on Saturday so we packed everyone into the car and went to Best Buy to "look around" and then we got dinner. So at least we got OUT. Winters here make you just want to stay inside and hibernate.

Then yesterday, Thing One spilled an entire gallon of milk (yes, the whole thing broke open and spilled out when she dropped it) ALL OVER THE BASEMENT CARPET. Hubby and I were screeching. Not so much at the spilled milk--but you know what happens when it gets in the carpet and DRIES.

The kids and I ran like the wind and got every towel out of the closet and put them all down, and we all walked over and over on them, sopping it all up. When it was mostly dry, I febreezed it all to death and pointed three fans at it. They've been going all night long. If my basement starts to smell like a dairy, I'm going to be VERY sad. That means we'll have to have all the carpet ripped up and replaced, and that won't be cheap.

Thing One will never run with a gallon of milk (she admitted she was holding it with ONE hand!) again.

I just hope I don't smell the "dairy" smell!

TGIM.

I Survived.

...being the Timekeeper at Thing One's basketball game last night, that is. Of COURSE Hubby couldn't come home in time for the game, so I had to beg our usual sitter to come watch the kids while I went--because being in charge of the scoreboard isn't something you can do with a toddler--a very ACTIVE toddler.

I got a "crash course" on how the control box worked from the school janitor, and I am happy to say I didn't make even one mistake! I was very proud of myself. And Thing One's team won!

I came home and Hubby had all the kids in bed, and he'd even read books to the baby before tucking him in. I was mildly impressed.

Now that it's Friday, I'm wondering where the week went? Huh?

Got my story printed up, and Hubby is reading it. I guess it's a good sign that he read TWO chapters before bed last night, instead of the obligatory "one." He could hardly keep his eyes open, but he made it through chapters one and two. Hooray! And of course Thing One stole the hard copy and was reading it before school, I had to wrestle it from her so she'd go downstairs and pack her lunch! She wants to read it too, which is good, because she's very close to my target audience range.

Today I have to buy water filters and heating filters. Funny how they all seem to go out at the same time. Have a happy weekend, everyone!

Which are you? Crunch or Creamy?

My kids are funny. Whenever I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (although I prefer to use jam because jelly is HIGHLY annoying to spread) they are very...specific about which kind of peanut butter I use.

Thing One MUST have crunchy. She'll complain if I use creamy.

Thing Two "likes" crunchy, but only once in a while. Generally he's a "creamy" kid...

Thing Three FREAKS if I put anything other than creamy on. One time I accidentally gave him Thing One's crunchy sandwich and the first thing he said to me off the bus was "Mommmm, why did I have crunchy today?"

Yeah, I pick my battles.

I tend to be a "creamy" gal. Probably because I was raised on Adam's Chunky (You remember, the kind you had to keep in the fridge and when you first opened it there was, like, a GALLON of oil at the top that needed to be stirred in) and I think I "OD'd" on Chunky.

But I can't eat the straight up stuff anymore. It has to be Reduced Fat, and it has to be Jif. I was a little chagrined when we went all the way to Costco and all they had was Skippy. Blech. Jif is the BOMB.

So, are you Crunch or Creamy? And please no self-righteous "I Don't Eat Peanut Butter" comments, because if you are American and you were a kid once, you've had Peanut Butter. :-)

I had an Aussie for a roommate in college, and she LOATHED Peanut Butter. Said it was the grossest stuff ever. And she tried to convert me to "Vegemite," which is the Australian's peanut butter. Which, to me, is the Grossest Stuff Ever. It tastes like vaseline mixed with Geritol. NASTY.

To each his own, right?

THE END, She Wrote...

Here's a VERY interesting post on FACEBOOK--part of me is really glad I haven't "made the jump" yet. Frankly, Facebook scares me, and here is a very good reason to beware. Thanks Mik, for the info!

And yeah, you read that right. I did it--last night. I wrote "THE END." Well, actually, I wrote a temporary "THE END" and it is really just "for now" because I have two more books in the series, but I think I wrapped up things nicely. And left a lot of questions unanswered. Because, frankly, there's two more books. Or did I say that already? :-)

Nice pat on the shoulder, and I'm on to the edits! I finished the book around 6pm, but I stayed up until 1am fiddling around with it. I started reading it from the beginning, but 260 pages is a LOT to read, so I gave up, and printed up the durn thing. I'm going to keep it in a binder and attack it with a red pen, when I get the chance. At least I'll be mobile.

So, I'm relieved. We were supposed to get ten inches of snow last night, and I was fully expecting to wake up at 5am to a foot of snow and 45 minutes of snowblowing the driveway, but...miracle of miracles...it hadn't snowed. Maybe a quarter of an inch, if that. I could still see the grass, and sidewalks, and streets...

But it's snowing NOW, so who knows. Hubby is flying back home today, so that should be interesting.

Today is Laundry day, and I already knocked half of it out yesterday. All I can say is DAYUM we have a lot of clothes in this house! Socks and underwear and shirts and pants and shorts and jammies and sweats and t-shirts and sweatshirts and hoodies and church clothes for SIX people, tend to add up. Especially when you have boys. They wear something once, and it's ready for the Toxic Waste Dump. Let me tell you, BLEACH is my good friend.
I have figured out the trick is to KEEP UP with it. Otherwise it gets to the point where I can't even walk in the laundry room.

Time to go pay some attention to the baby!

On Fire.

Yesterday was, except for the whole "spray-everything-with-Lysol-and -listen-to-Thing-One-complain-about-her-illness" thing, quite peaceful.

I was on fire with my story--I wrote 5200 words. I only have one or two more chapters, which I will finish up today (if it kills me) and I will be done with Book One. And I already have about 20K written on Book Two, since I chopped the first one in half. Woo!

So, spent most of yesterday living in my head, so to speak. Things were flowing, and the boys pretty much kept to themselves and were "good." Of course I had to pay attention to the baby, but he takes naps and likes to hang out with his brothers, so I had lots of time to get my words in.

I don't know what it is about having a kid with the stomach flu--but everywhere I go, everything smells like...poo. I smell it everywhere--on my clothes, in the bathrooms, it's like it's "in my nose to stay" or something. And I am the Lysol Queen. There shouldn't be any poo-smelling germs ANYWHERE. Yet, I smell poo. What is up with that?

Today is going to get VERY busy after school, lots of stuff going on, and we have cubs tonight. So I won't even be home until 9pm. Plus I have to have my first R.S. meeting and I'm sure they're going to throw a lot of stuff at me, so I'm nervous. But hey, guess it's time to "rise to the occasion," right?

It's Tuesday Toast Day!

And Here We Go Again...

So, last night stunk. Got the kids to bed around 9:30 (no school today) and worked on my story until around 11-ish, and collapsed into bed.

Cut to 1am--Thing One (who is 11) crawls into bed with me. "Mom, I feel sick. I'm cold and I feel like I'm going to throw up!"

She had the stomach flu a few weeks ago, so I think she's just being paranoid. I give her a Pepcid (because she normally has reflux) and let her sleep with me. Only she's not sleeping. She's sitting up, rocking, and complaining to me.

Then she's gone, and I hear the sound of her throwing up in my bathroom. MY bathroom. And it's nasty. She's VIOLENTLY sick, a few times. So, I'm confused. Didn't we JUST go through this?

I banned her to her own room, and of course she woke up the baby who started crying for me, so I had to apply liberal amounts of hand sanitizer and hold him for a while (while she kept getting sick in her bathroom) and I tried to get to bed, after Lysol-ing everything, but the baby woke up crying two more times, and I finally checked on Thing One and she'd fallen asleep on her bathroom floor.

I feel fine. Everyone else feels fine. WHY is this happening again? Thing One told me one of the girls next to her in school threw up last week, all over her chair, and I'm thinking "is this really happening?"

I have her in quarantine. We ALL had the stomach flu a few weeks ago, except the baby, and Thing One was playing with him a lot yesterday. So, I'm nervous. Babies certainly can't "run to the toilet."

Unpleasantness aside, I hope today is a good day. We worked like dogs all weekend to keep the house as clean as the maid service left it, which involved cleaning the kitchen FOUR times in one day, and vacuuming twice. UGH. Hubby is in New York now, so I will have my nights free to write, and finish my story. I WILL. I had a "flash" and the end just came to me last night. It's only a matter of writing it out. Yay!

I hope everyone has a good Monday. I will spend mine in fear of getting "Stomach Flu--Part II"

Cross your fingers for us!

I Have a Clean House.

We just walked in a couple of hours ago and I almost cried--everything is shiny and glossy and sparkly...and CLEAN!

I LOVE Merrie Maids!!! *SOB*

Okay, now I just need to keep from yelling at my kids every time they touch anything. MUST REFRAIN...

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's day. Even if you don't have a significant other, it's a great day to let all the people you love in your life know how much you appreciate them. Pick up that phone or send an email! They'd love to hear from you!

Have a happy weekend, everyone!

The Traveling Tantrum

Babies crack me up. Well, TODDLERS--especially since Thing Four turned 21 months two days ago. He's starting in on the "Twos" early, I am convinced.

He's not one to throw temper tantrums per se, he doesn't rock back and scream and kick, but he does lay on the floor and...drumroll please...HUM.

When he doesn't get his way, he cries big tears. THEN, he lays on the floor and hums. No joke. Not a happy song, but he cries with his mouth closed: "HMMM HMMM HMMM...HMMM HMMM HMMM...in increments of three. It is quite funny.

ANYWAY, this morning, I got him out of bed at 6:30, and he wanted to "watch Toy Story." He's watched Toy Story every day this week. He watched it every day last week. He wanted to hold his Buzz Lightyear action figure and sit on the floor and watch Toy Story. At six in the morning.

I told him not yet, he needed to eat breakfast first. He gave me the "unhappy-I'm-about-to-cry" face, and I said "Not yet, sweetie. We need to eat nummies."

The kids had already eaten and were upstairs brushing their teeth and getting dressed, and he looked at me and said, in a VERY demanding voice: "I want to watch TOY STORY!"

I looked at him, and said "No."

Then came the big tears. He's mastered the art of crying like his heart is broken, very well. I folded my arms, and looked at him. So he pulled out the Hum Tantrum. He layed on the floor and started his Humming.

So, I got up and left him lying there, and went into my room. What's funny is, he stopped imediately, as soon as he realized he didn't have an audience. I heard him get up, crawl up the four steps to my room, and he saw me sitting on my bed, looking at him. SO, he walked into my room, dropped down on the floor and started...Humming. Right where he'd left off.

I couldn't resist. I left my room, and went into the kitchen, where Hubby was getting himself breakfast. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and lo and behold, Thing Four came toddling down the stairs, layed himself down on the floor, and resumed humming.

I had to laugh at this point. He REALLY wanted me to pay some attention to him. I picked him up and gave him breakfast. Needless to say, we won't be watching Toy Story until later.

To Infinity...and Beyond!!!

Immersed.

I guess I'll try the no-bakes one more time--and I'll boil them longer than the required "minute." But if they still don't work, I'll chalk it up to failure and my kids will never be able to sample them. *sigh* Thanks for the suggestions.

Hurriedly helped Thing Three decorate a shoebox last night and put together valentines with candy, because he has his Valentine's party today. Tomorrow is a half-day at school, and then the kids are off school until Tuesday. They're calling it "Winter Break." I'm a little nervous. Since we've taken the Wii away from Thing Two, he's going to whine about it the two days they're home.

I figured Friday, after parent/teacher conferences, I'd take them across town to the really BIG Half-price books. It's always fun to browse around. Besides, I have to get them out of the house for about half the day on Friday.

Why?

I finally folded. I called a maid service. Springlike weather always makes me want a deep cleaning, and I figured since the last time I had the maid service come and clean was September of 2007 (this is according to their records) I was due. I'm not going to lie. My house can get--overwhelming at times. Five full bathrooms with three young boys (and a man who, sometimes, in the middle of the night doesn't have the BEST aim) can get VERY messy. Even my daughter's bathroom gets...interesting. And bless her, she tries to clean it, but she doesn't do the best job.

I am only one person, you know. So, I am going to let FOUR people come and deep clean for six hours. And I'm not going to have any guilt over it. It will be a lot easier to keep up once they've done it.

I got really immersed in my story last night. Got the kids in bed, started editing, and found myself deep in the world I created. Then I hear hubby ask from the Family room "Hey, honey, are we going to watch some shows tonight?"

I had to tear myself away. It's our nightly routine, we watch two shows and Hubby conks out, and I write some more afterwards. But I didn't want to watch shows last night. I was having too much fun with my edits. Hazard of the job, I guess.

I can't wait to get back to my characters this morning. Alas, I have errands to run and an upstairs to tidy up before I can put the baby down for a nap and write.

Gotta "clean" the house before the cleaners come. Yeah, that's not a typo. :-)

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!

I think I'm going to have a heart attack--I've been gone all morning on Dr's appts and church visits, and I just HAPPENED to glance down at my car's dashboard while I was driving.

It's SIXTY degrees outside.

I was like, HUH? Is it BROKEN?

It's actually 6-0 degrees! The sun is out. The winds are very gusty and strong, but the sun is out and the snow has melted, except for those big ugly dirty piles in the parking lots. WOW.

I'm not getting too excited. It will be twenties next week and snowing, mark my words. But I will enjoy today! Once the baby is up from his nap I'm going to take him outside!

So, I baked "no bakes" yesterday. And, to my dismay, they didn't turn out. You know, the recipe where you mix up cocoa and sugar and peanut butter and butter and vanilla and boil it and add quick oats and drop it on the wax paper, and it's supposed to get hard? Well, mine stayed slimy. They didn't get hard at ALL! Is it the climate? I used to make these all the time back home, and they turned out perfectly. But when I made them in Texas, they never got hard. And here, no such luck.

What am I doing wrong? I had to throw out the whole batch. My kids were very sad. I need a recipe that makes the cookies HARD. Is that so difficult? Maybe it's because I'm not very high above sea level...

Any suggestions?

Had a really good weekend. Saturday was FIFTY THREE degrees by my house, and even though the line for the carwash was 20+ minutes, it was worth it to wash off the salt and dirt that I didn't dare wash off before because it was SO FREAKING COLD. Apparently it's going to be forties all week--although I don't dare think this is Winter winding down---we've had snow in May before. One can hope...though...

Went to Costco and did the big STOCK UP, it's a great feeling to have full cupboards and freezer again. Of course the only Costco we have is a 50 minute drive away in Grafton, so it was a several hour long trip when all was said and done, but highly worth it.

Sunday was quiet--church and football. Thing Two got two "C's" on his report card, and Hubby and I went into Operation That-Won't-Happen-Again Mode. We've taken away the Wii until the next report card (which really freaked Thing Two out) but now he spends his time doing Nintendo Papercrafts. They're actually very fun, once you figure out how to make them. You can go to nintendopapercraft.com and make little lovelies like these:

The kids have been making them all weekend. Granted, I have little bits of cut paper EVERYWHERE and my tape is all gone, but they are really having fun. And you can download the templates to cut out and make for free. How cool is that? A lot better than sitting in front of a TV with a controller and glazed-over eyes, that's for sure...

I got released from my calling at church. I've been the Primary chorister for nearly three years, and they had told me I would be in for another year (I'd like to think they couldn't find a music teacher as dynamic as me--I have GREAT visuals! heh heh) but apparently they've found someone for the job and now I'm going to be in the Relief Society Presidency. STRESS. I like teaching kids more than working with adult women. I've always had Primary callings, where I teach children. Always. I guess it's time for a change. I figured 2009 would hold a few changes for me, and here's one for sure.

Well, time to tidy up from the weekend. I didn't write--I think I've been so absorbed in the story, it was good to get away from it for a few days so I can attack it with fresh eyes. Besides, I had an epiphany about it while I was in the shower. Why do all my good ideas happen in the shower? :-)

Hope it's a happy Monday for everyone!

BLEAH.

Yesterday started out pretty well, and ended up CRUD. You know how those days go. They happen. Nothing a good long trip to B&N won't cure. I still have some giftcard to spend!

I hope everyone has a good weekend. It's supposed to be FIFTY degrees on Saturday. I think I might cry from sheer happiness...

I'm in Heaven.

I've discovered the yummiest jam on the planet--that you can buy at the store, anyway. I am a HUGE fan of Rhubarb, and an even bigger fan of Strawberry/Rhubarb. So you can imagine my glee when I saw this jam on the store shelf yesterday. Thing One shares my Rhubarb enthusiasm, and we had this on buttered english muffins this morning. *sigh* Very tasty.

Okay, I have to laugh at all these “Better Than Botox” ads that are on webpages, hotmail, etc. I'm sure you've seen them. They show a picture of this haggard lady who seriously could apply for a job as The Mummy/Crypt Keeper, and suddenly, the ad scrolls over and every wrinkle is gone, and the Crypt Keeper has been replaced with a dewy 20-year old with nary a line on her face. In other words, if you look like an 80-something Crypt Keeper, you too can look like a dewy 20-something year old INSTANLY with "Better Than Botox."

HILARIOUS!!! I highly doubt there is a cream in existence that works THAT well.

Guess I have to slam a product when I promote one, right?

I figured out what to do about my story. I am going to just FINISH the story, and see where my word count ends up. Then I will make the decision whether or not to chop it into two books. I think it will end up in two, but we'll see. I want my hero/heroine to have to WORK and have ANGST for a bit before there is a resolution. :-D

Woke up with a horrible headache this morning. Excedrin Migraine did it in very nicely. Now I need to get ink and paper and valentines and candy, for the kids's classes. Because, a simple paper valentine doesn't "cut it" anymore. You have to have a "treat" with it now. UGH.

It's Thursday!

I'm Trying.

Honestly, I am. I am trying REALLY hard, not to get mad at my kids in the mornings before school. I sat them all down and had a talk with them the other day.

Me: Do you like it when I yell in the mornings?

Them: NO!

Me: Well, I have a solution. How about you all do what I ask of you, the FIRST time I ask it? Sound simple?

Them: (Squirming) Yes.

Me: Okay, then! Let's try it and see if it works!

So, yesterday was WONDERFUL. They all got dressed the first time I told them to. Brushed their teeth, even made their beds (when they usually wait until they have to be out the door and don't have time) packed their lunches (I make the sandwiches) and made sure their homework was in their schoolbags.

Cue to THIS morning, where I had to stop myself from raising my voice not once, not twice, but about SEVEN times because it was back to "normal" and they weren't listening.

Yeah, that lasted a whole day.

They call me "Brownie Mom." For those of you who haven't seen or read Spiderwick Chronicles, the brownie is this cute cuddly rodent, and then, when he gets really mad, he swells up into this bloated Jabba-the-Hutlike thing and screams and yells.

Nice, huh?

If they don't start doing what I say the FIRST time around, no amount of honey and crackers will help...

You can look that one up...

:-D

A Small Dilemma...

Yesterday was good--nice to get back into things. The baby and I ran errands and got some cleaning done (why is it the house seems to get REEEEALLY messy over the weekend?) and got a phone call from Hubby--he felt like crap.

He got the flu. I have to give him snaps, he stayed at work until around 7pm, despite feeling achy and gross all day. I told him he needed to come home instead of getting all his coworkers sick, but his excuse was that he has his own office with a door, so he wasn't "breathing" on anyone.

STILL...he's in bed right now trying to get up and shower. I told him as long as he's achy, he's sick, and needs bed and rest. He thinks he's feeling good enough to "go in." ARRGGH!

So, I have a dilemma. I've hit 68K on my YA story, and there's still LOTS of story to tell. 70 thousand words is a bit much for a YA novel, especially a first novel in a series. So I'm thinking I need to beef up the beginning, and cut off at around 55-60K and make what I'm writing now the SEQUEL. The rate I'm going, this story will be 85K by the time I'm done. That's way too much.

So, do I wrap up quickly and make the ending a copout--or do I really take my time with it and make it two books?

I'm leaning towards two books. I think I certainly have enough storyline to cut off in the middle. I think I'll mess around with it and see what happens.

Today is a bit crazy with Cub scouts tonight, so I'd better get going!

I'm sad. The weekend went by WAY too fast! We were lazy slugs all weekend, eating and napping and basically doing nothing but hanging out with the kids. Saturday was a little busy for me in the sense that I had to do some running around, but other than that, it was good.

Watched the Superbowl. At least it was an interesting game...I can't watch the ones where one team gets an early big lead and skunks the other team. I like neck-and-neck action until the end, and yesterday's game delivered! The commercials were pretty good, too. We had yummy food, and I have to say, my Shrimp Dip is to DIE for...

I was bad and didn't write. I need to have quiet when I write, and to be honest, I just don't have much of that on weekends. Our house is very "spirited" when everyone is home.

So we got to relax this weekend, but I swear it felt like only about ten minutes. :-(

Back to normalcy, and running massive errands!