I've been off-line for a little while. First it was the Chocolate Show craziness and then preparing to host Thanksgiving for my siblings, and then the big day itself. (Got to have the entire family over, plus have a web chat with the parents from the other side of the planet. Good times.)
Three highlights from the non-holiday time:
1) I had the opportunity to read Michele Paige Holmes's second book as she prepares to turn it into her editor. If you've read Counting Stars, you will have read the opening chapter of this book, as it was included at the back of that one. Remember Jay? This is his continuing story, and what a ride it is!
I loved it, and I'm sure her readers will too.
2) I did a bit of digging and found a couple of resources for my next project. This was a relief to me, because the temple I'll be writing about doesn't have nearly as much written about it as the others have.
3) The other--and somewhat less enjoyable--big thing I did was do a deep-cleaning on my girls' room. Ugh. The room is packed more than it should be. We're turning a former bedroom into my new office, and while we wait for that to be done, I'm still in my old office. That means all three of my girls are crammed into one bedroom.
We thought it would be a 3-4 week thing. They could handle it that long. That was in June. Yeah. Life's been busy. (I'll have to post pics of my new digs when the place is done. Can you say "built-in-bookcases"? I can't WAIT!)
In the meantime, however, having three young girls, three beds, three times the toys and garbage and artwork and silliness all in the same room tends to create a monstrous-sized challenge. It's not as if they aren't required to clean their room regularly, but if Mom isn't involved, certain things don't get a good cleaning. Toys end up under the bed. Garbage Mom would have thrown out gets pushed into corners. Dress-ups get mixed in with regular clothes. And so on.
I'm not sure how many hours we worked on that place, but in the aftermath, I carried out eight grocery-sized bags of garbage plus a good armful for the recycle bin. I'm sure I could have found more to clean (under one bed wasn't totally cleared out, I'm afraid, and we didn't organize the desk drawers, either).
We also spent time cleaning up the basement play area for when the cousins played there after the feast. Again, I'm not sure how much time I spent on that (certainly not as much as the girls' bedroom), but it was longer than the 3.8 seconds it took the crew to trash the place when they descended on it.
All in all, it felt good to get rid of all the garbage, to set things in order--even if it didn't last long.
But truth be told, it has also felt a little weird over the last week and a half to not sit down and write or blog. I've been under self-imposed deadlines for literally months, and now . . . nothing. It's intentional; I'm letting myself rest. But part of me has looked around, wondering exactly where I put myself.
I'll be taking a few more days off of the heavy stuff until I hit my manuscript revisions.
But I can't guarantee I won't be visiting blogland in the meantime.
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10 comments:
You must be so incredibly tired. Ouch. Hope you get to unwind soon...or...you know, even just eventually.
I'm worn out reading about everything you've done. I hope someday you'll decide to do some research and writing on the Alberta temple. I'd love to show you Alberta.
Sounds like a lot of work. I wrote a little something about clutter and organizing on my blog the other day.
But it sure does feel good when you get the place all cleared out of stuff you don't want anymore.
I love it when you finish tasks like that that have been haunting you. Way to go!
Welcome back to blogland
Sounds like you need some of that EFT from my Saturday blog, Annette. I don't know how you get through so much.
kids in the same room create ten times the mess they would have if they are in thyeir own room. I cannot wait to finish my basement and move my boys into separate rooms. I feel your pain and congratulate you for getting it all done.
Thanks, Annette. You should have mentioned that there were about 8 bags of garbage in my MS you had to wade through as well :)
Can't believe all you squished into the past couple of weeks. Oh that I could be so productive . . .
I'd wondered where you'd been a week or so ago so I specifically looked up the chocolate show blog and said, "Aaaahh--she's a little busy this weekend."
Congrats on the chocolate show, the girl's room, and Thanksgiving dinner! Now stop and eat some chocolate, will ya?! :)
Stephanie, Alberta is actually on my list of temples to write about. If and when I come up that way, I'll be sure to let you know!
Michele, Whatever.
SO glad you're back! Ugh--I've done that deep clean of the kids' rooms more than once. I takes FOREVER, but is so worth it.
I can't wait to see your built-in bookcases!
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