I'm a Horrible Blogger

I have been a TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD blogger as of late. Both in reading and writing. I have a lot to catch up on. I could blame the Holidays, but there are a lot of people who like to blog and do it religiously. I guess I've changed a little--not that I want to do away with the blog, but I honestly have come to a point where I feel like I don't have anything new to say.

I queried 8 agents with my newest story, and got 8 rejections back. And things pretty much shut down in the publishing world from December 1st until after the New Year. So, maybe I'm just a little "down" about writing right now. It happens. Writing, for me, until I decide I want it as a full time job, will be cyclical. I'll have times when I'll be on fire, and times when I don't ever want to write again.

Things are going pretty well right now, just very busy. It's the first Christmas in our new house, and I'm figuring out tree placement, etc., but I'm excited about having the holiday decorations up. They make the house so cozy and inviting--and FESTIVE!

Time to make breakfast for Thing Four, but I will certainly try to be better at blogging. Please don't hate me if I miss a day here or there. It's not because I don't love you.

;-)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I am thankful for so many things. I hope everyone has a wonderful day of yummy food and giving thanks!

It's the Middle of November? Huh?

Had an amazing weekend. Friday Hubby took the day off and we had fun hanging out with the kids and frankly, being a little lazy. Saturday was a little hairy in the morning, Thing Three had a soccer game, Thing One had a church meeting and Thing Two had a Merit Badge Clinic, and I had to run to the mall and knock out some Christmas shopping because it was extra associate discount, so...yeah...dividing and conquering and things got tricky.
But later that afternoon we went out to the farm of some friends and spent the day riding 4-wheelers and shooting skeet (I had to get a crash course on how to shoot a 20-gage shotgun, but I hit one on my very first try, I was impressed with myself!) and then we had a bonfire and the yummiest barbeque. Then later that night the BYU Cougars beat Idaho. Perfect day. Total blast.

Sunday was relaxing. After church, we all took naps. Pure heaven. Sundays are the best days for those. But now my house is a sty and I get to run errands and grocery shop and clean up said house. Gotta love Mondays! And yes, I am getting my Christmas trees up in a few days. WOO!

I can't believe it's the middle of November! Time is passing freakishly fast!

Overwhelmed.

So much so, my brain is too crowded. And my son is sick AGAIN, so not sure what's going on there.

But in better news, I finally found a GREAT recipe for Ratatouille!

Oh, and the PB&J hand sanitizer from B&Body works is FOUL.

Happy Wednesday!

Morning Chaos.

Thing Two, who is twelve, is NOT a morning person. His brothers are up around 6am, and he lies in bed until I drag him out by his heels/pour ice water on him/shout into his ear with an air horn. The kid doesn't like to get up in the mornings. Which is actually fine. Because three boys doinking around in the mornings is NOT good for the nerves.

Thing Two lately has decided he wants to get up and shower and get completely ready for the day 100% (thanks to an Epiphany last week or my frustration coming to a head, not sure which) so he has decided he will wake up at 6am along with his younger brother.

Yeah. Not liking that so much. They roughhouse. They run through the house. They do stunts. They yell. I like my mornings peaceful. Is it bad I told Thing Two this morning he could stop waking up and stay sleeping in until 7am--because the house is too chaotic?

I guess we'll figure it out, but this is NOT working.

I need to see an allergist and get shots, or something. I have a constant headache right between my eyes lately. I don't know if it's all the moldy leaves or what, but I am miserable! And I can only wear my contacts for a few hours at a time, because my eyes turn red. MISERABLE. I'm usually lazy about getting my own self to a doctor, but this time, I need to just go. Momma's been crabby lately!

And now they're fighting over who used the milk last. Because neither of them want to put it away. Seriously? My kids are turkeys!

Happy Tuesday!

TGI...M???

Do you ever have such crazy weekends you're actually GLAD it's Monday? Don't know if that makes sense, but sometimes, it's how it works at my house. We run around like crazy on weekends, and when all is said and done, I'm actually GLAD for a little peace and quiet when the kids are all in school and I actually am alone in the house for the 3 1/2 hours I get per day. ;-) Except I usually spend those hours cleaning or running around, so it's not like I truly enjoy them or anything. Ha ha. But I will say the pace is less...frenetic.

Hubby is in NYC all this week, so I want to get a chunk of my sequel written--at night of course. I got the Halloween stuff down and packed away, but I left my Fall stuff up, because it's Thanksgiving soon of course, but I just realized--in two weeks I will be PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS TREES!! Wow. I just shivered. You have no idea how exciting Christmastime is for this momma. LOVE Christmas.

And now it's time to crack the whip over my 12-year old son--who would forget to do EVERYTHING if I didn't remind him. *sigh*

Happy Monday!

It's Friday Already?

Rainy day today. I don't mind. I love this kind of weather. It's not super cold, either. Thing Four doesn't have pre-school on Fridays, so I promised him I'd take him jumping on the inflatables at Sports Connection. And we have a "free Happy Meal" card he's been BEGGING me to redeem, so that will be lunch. At least he prefers Apple Dippers over fries. ;-)

I'm going to get some more cleaning done today, and catch up on Vampire Diaries and get some words in. My daughter is going to Raleigh with Hubby tomorrow to meet some famous sisters--I'll tell you who on Monday! She's very excited.

Right now, I owe Thing Four two games of Pumpkin Phonics. Happy Weekend everyone!

I seriously ran around all day yesterday. My poor house. It's VERY dusty. And cluttery. I loathe clutter. It makes me cranky. You know what they say--the state of your house is reflective of your state of mind!

In other news, I want to lock my daughter in her room and take away all her makeup and pretty clothes until she's ready to go off to college. Now that she's 14 all these boys are coming out of the woodwork--is it supposed to be this way? MAJOR STRESS!!!

Today is Laundry day. It's the only day this week I am literally not going from one place to the next. So, I am planting myself at my desk and getting some writing in in between loads and folding.

Thrilling, I know. But tonight my 10-year old gets his Webelos badge! Next month it's his Arrow of Light and he'll be 11. Time is FLYING!!!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Post-Halloween.

It's been a very busy but good last few days. The kids had a blast with all their Halloween-related activities, and now, yes, we have candy coming out of our ears. I might have to hide it all and ration it out, because OH. MY. GOSH. When you have a huge neighborhood like ours, and four kids go all over, you can imagine the amount of candy you are going to get. Plus we had a church Trunk-or-Treat Friday night, so they scored quite a bit of candy from that.

As far as last night, don't worry, I re-filled my huge cauldron three times, so I gave out as much as I got. ;-) It's all in good fun!

We're doing lots of Fall things, lately. Caramel apples, cider and doughnuts, fires, soon we'll be raking leaves. We pretty much only have toothpick trees in our front yard, and the woods on our property are self-sustaining so we don't really rake leaves in them, so no leaf pile to jump into this year! :-(

I am trying to get a hold on things. It's been so busy lately, the blog has suffered, my housekeeping has suffered, and I need to budget my time a little better. I'm still working on my sequel, but I'm not NaNoing this year. I've done it once, and I felt very accomplished, but moving on.

It was in the 30's this morning, I love Fall weather! We don't get a lot of snow in the South, but you can bet it will be welcome if we do! I just hope everyone on the East coast has their power back!

Now I'm off to a church meeting. But I thought I'd squeeze a post in. I'm sure y'all are thrilled. :-)