All posts in A Day In The Life

Many people celebrate their new year in January. New beginnings, new goals and resolutions, right? But I’ve come to realize I’m never ready by January to start setting goals and getting organized. By January, I’ve just finished a mad shopping rush for the holidays and before I know it school is back on with activities and rushing around.

I think I’m ready to get organized and set goals in…June.

June is a busy month for us that’s for certain. Three family birthdays are in June, my anniversary, school is finishing for the summer and baseball season is ending. But it’s a moment to pause from rushing around each night readying for tomorrow, then rushing around that morning to set off for a new day. And now as school ends, it’s a break to not rush so much and just breathe.

This weekend, I started organizing the kids rooms and front room and moving furniture. It was time for a fresh look and a little change. I finally had the time. I also started really writing these past couple of months on my WIPS and freelance projects. I feel inspired, ready to work, and motivated.

I’m ready to start my New Year in June.

With the new family poodle puppy, Cinnamon.

I’m tired from potty training through the nights, and readjusting to having a new baby around. haha! She’s a definite joy to have with us. She’s just so cute!

I was awaken at five am this morning…the electricity had gone off. I figured it’d be an hour or two tops. I got the kids up later, and rushed around without TV or lights, which was fine, except for the cold pop tarts.

We walk out to the car, and see strange specks floating down from the sky. What are those?? They are white. Ashes. Fire someplace close by. Radio says there is a 400 acre fire raging in the Santa Cruz Mountains, so huge we’re getting ashes from about 45 miles away. A huge dark mass of smoke is travelling across the sky.

I have Starbucks, and write on a new project on my laptop, waiting for the electricity to kick on…recording says about noon. The sun keeps shifting to orange because of the fire.

Noon comes and goes. No internet, no communication with the outside world! The recording says between two and four. I clean. I’m bored out of mind. I pick up the kids and keep watching the ashes float on the wind.

The power clicks on at 4 pm today. The food in the fridge is spoiled but I have communication!! I have a connection to the outside world. And now I get to vent about it all to you!

I google the fire, it’s burned 2500 – 3000 acres now. Hundreds have been evacuated. Homes destroyed. I have family and friends where the fire is headed, and has gone through. It’s not going well.

Because I’m a Flickr geek, I couldn’t help checking out this business called MOO that takes your Flickr pics, and puts them on cards, stickers, and stuff. Too cute. I ordered some mini cards in place of biz cards. I’ll show you how they turn out in about a week!

So my plans for the weekend:

–Watch numerous raindrops fall from the sky.

–Speed race to finish revisions to turn into my editor on Monday.

–Attend Baseball Opening Day, maybe while watching raindrops fall from the sky.

–Race, race, race to finish revisions by Monday.

Hope your plans are better!

Since INVISIBLE is out to my editor I have a boatload of organization to enter back into my life. Such as…

Clean desk.
It’s a messy terror, I tell ya. Frightening.

The List.
Get to the list of all the things I’ve put off the last two months.

Clean bathrooms.
They are in serious need of scrubbing.

Breathe.
Just relax for a few days. I hope. Usually this doesn’t happen until the weekends when I don’t have to worry about getting the family going, but you never know.

New Proposal.
Yeah, got to get going on that soon.

Holiday Crunch, feeling the holiday crunch! As if you couldn’t already tell, blogging is going to be slim pickings as I close in on meeting my deadline.

This weekend I took a little visit to Pacific Grove’s Candy Cane Lane, where the neighborhood puts on a fantastic light show decorating their homes with fun holiday decorations. With all the houses lit for the holidays, it is a great and entertaining stroll on a dark, chilly night.

When the school year started, I thought it would be a little bit easier to write. I thought I’d open more time for myself.

In a way it has given me about 2 hours on my own a few days a week.

On the other hand, I didn’t factor in all the additional commitments and obstacles.

I volunteer at the school once a week, and on holidays there are more activities. And I didn’t count on the kids catching viruses one after the other.

During the summer, the kids rarely got sick, but now being exposed to extra germs at school and viruses, there are common colds and stomach bugs until they can build up their immune systems.

It’s part of being a parent, I know, and it’s also tough to concentrate when I worry about my kiddos.

So I write when I can in the mornings and squeeze in writing time in the evenings if I have the energy. The tough part is keeping the creative energy up when you have so many other things are your mind.

I’m aiming to get this book done by December because my agent needs to read it before she goes on Holiday leave. My editor deadline is mid January, which isn’t a problem.

It’s going to be one close call getting it to my agent in enough time for me to revise her edits before sending to my editor.

Only parents will be able to relate to this blog…

Today I’ve reached that strange monumental moment in parenthood…

…where both of my little ones are now in school.

That’s why the dead air. I’ve been trying to get my kids and my home life organized for back to school. The house is now in decent order, but my desk. Yikes, my desk is in desperate need of organization. Haha.

But back to the strange monumental moment.

I have, like, 3 hours all to myself. Hours of no interruption. I’ll be able to write during the day instead of late in the evenings. I’ll have the beginnings of a real writing routine.

It’s so, so surreal.

*sigh*

Okay, once I tackle the desk, I’ll see if I can get this new writing routine started.

I can’t believe it, but on the week of my radio interview and book signing, I’ve gone and injured myself.

I was goofing off with my son, chasing him in the house–such a no-no, I know–when he fell. I was going so fast, I ended up tripping over him full speed ahead and landing on my knee.

There were tears, it was ugly, and my knee is tender and swollen. It happened too late to go to the doctor and we’ll see what happens today.

Sigh.

This is going to be one interesting week!

Eek!! Earth shake!!

Okay, a small one. Hit, hit. But still, they freak me out.