After Thanksgiving...

Sorry I fell off the grid... It's been kind of crazy around here!
First was getting ready for Thanksgiving. That was nuts! So much to do since we haven't been home most of the time.
We still didn't feel ready when everyone rolled in for dinner (all 30+ people), but we had a fun and good day, even with the stuff we didn't get done. We're still cleaning up - not because the house was trashed (well, okay, it was, but not like you would think), but because there's no place to go with some of the stuff and many people left stuff behind, too!
My sister and her family spent the night (you surely remember our reasoning for that from several years ago). That was fun and we cooked our butts off.
Then we hit Friday. I had to day job it. That Man didn't. He and K4 went to work on her car (we're less than a month before she gets her permit! Oy!) and I came home feeling like I got hit by a truck and went to bed before nine. (Cold... I knew it was going to happen. Everyone at my work is sick, and so are my grandkids)
Saturday, I woke up feeling mostly okay. I paid bills, cleaned, we went to get K2 a birthday present, went to lunch, and then went to visit K2 and family. It was fun to play with Baby C. She's so funny. K2 liked her presents and the diaper covers we got for Baby C (snowmen and mittens). We hung out for a while, which was really good, and then headed to our friends for a party. That was fun, though I felt crappier and crappier. We left early and were in bed at a strangely weird time for a Saturday night.
Sunday was picking up K4's car at my sisters and dropping it off for inspection, grocery shopping, writing, laundry, the cold hitting me again in the evening and bed early...
And today... Day job. Writing. Trying to catch up with stuff. I did no Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping. At all. I do have "some" Christmas stuff bought, and a general idea on some, but am in no way ready to think about the rest. I'll get there though. Right now, I'm heading to bed. Dang cold...
How exciting, right?
Maybe I should have stayed off grid?
Behave!

Weird Wednesday... Or Not...

Today is Wednesday!
So, why is Wednesday good?
1. Videos of Baby C. She was supposed to wave to Nana, but ended up shaking her head no as her hand was raised. Funny kid. I miss her face! I love that I get videos and pictures of her regularly and I can't wait to see her! (and her momma and daddy)
2. Getting to see Baby B tonight. We're going to make donuts for the elves for Christmas! I'm excited. He's hysterical and we are so blessed by him.
3. It's Wednesday, which means we're halfway to Friday.
4. My word count hasn't been as amazing as it was this weekend, but my brain is working again.
5. I won a five day trail of Thrive! I started on Monday and have slowly been feeling better and better. Good enough by today, that I signed up for a month just to see how much better I can feel. I do feel better - I'm thinking clearer, I have more energy, I'm not as hungry, I'm sleeping better, and I completely broke the rules (because I'm a bonehead and didn't pay attention) by having caffeine and booze... So tomorrow I start over and see if it makes more of a difference. I can't deny the difference in my friend. She's had an amazing experience and I love it! My old friend is back and it's awesome.
I'm looking to get myself back, too! My family has dealt with a lot of crap for the last 18 or so months and it's taken its toll on us in many ways and we're heading into our first holiday season without Mom. So...
6. The next week will be getting ready for Thanksgiving! I'm excited to host, but we have a lot to do to get ready. All of my chickens will be in the nest this year and I can't wait!
7. And then we head into Christmas... I think I'm ready. K4 turns 16 this year and I'm determined to make her birthday and Christmas awesome. Determined, even though I have no idea how I'm going to do this without my mom.
8. I miss my momma. I miss her every single day. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about her, wish I could talk to her, wish I could hug her. I'm grateful for what I did have with her, but I'm still trying to find my way in this world without her.
9. Adjusting. Because we have to.
10. This will be our first holiday season without Mom. The parade was hard. Trick or Treat night was hard, but now we move into even harder times. Mom loved the holidays beyond reason. She would already be playing Christmas music and laughing about it. She didn't care. She did what she wanted and never apologized. We teased her, but we all loved it!
That's a pretty screwed up, but honest, list...
Behave!

Amazing Weekend!

This weekend I went on a mini writing retreat with some friends.
We had a blast!
The best thing is that I think I found my hidden mojo! I haven't written like this in a really, really long time. I managed over 10K words this weekend, plus made some bookstore connections that I'm excited about!
It was good, though I missed my niece's birthday party and I missed the official first starting of K4's wheels. Everyone supported me in going though, which was great since I'd missed my writing groups annual retreat in May.
I need this more than I realized. And it was good. Really good.
So, now I continue on... excited!!
Behave!

A Monday Since....

Sorry about the radio silence, folks! (Not that there's no one even reading this anymore!)
Okay so...
1. The new dishwasher is installed and is awesome!
2. We had an awesome weekend!I love staying at my sister's (both houses are calming and awesome). We had some celebrating to do with my middle sister and it was really good.
3. Picked up K5 on Sunday. She's a riot. We had a blast with her and she had fun playing with her cousin and running around my sister's house. I miss that kid! She's amazing.
4. Writing meeting on Saturday. Always great! I couldn't stay for lunch (see #2).
5. Back to the grind now... Oy, Monday!
6. Watching inspirational episodes of X-Files with my baby on a cold, rainy Monday night.
7. Thanksgiving is a little more than 2 weeks away. I'm excited and terrified about hosting. Only terrified because I have no idea how I'm going to be ready! I'm excited to have everyone here! It's going to be fun and I'm so grateful to be hosting this year. (I think I already said that!)
8. We're not going to make it to 10. because I'm exhausted and still have a million things to do before I can go to bed, but the best announcement of all is that...
I'm going to be a grandma again! K1 & J's 2nd is due in July!
Yay!
I'm on four and I am early to this Nana game... How many grandkids do you think I'll end up with? I still have two kids at home and two that are still in the early days of parenthood... I'm a little nervous. LOL
Behave!

New Dishwasher

It's still in the box and in my dining room, but it's here!! Finally!
We've been without for... aw geeze...since maybe... I don't even know - two years? Or more? I've never minded washing dishes by hand, but now....I do because there is no time anymore and my minions are overwhelmed by homework, school, activities, too, so they are no help at all. Sure, they'll put the dishes away, but the washing.... That Man does dishes as much as I do. (Disclaimer: Only sort of, sometimes I don't mind, but I have too much lately and I do mind most days, plus we are hosting all major holidays from now until New Years - not New Year's Eve - at least I don't think!)
We went on the trek to the home store, picked out the one we liked and then went to look for other things, finding an awesome and much-needed lamp for the living room in the process. When we got back to appliances, I got to push the "button" that magically announced that someone needed help in appliances. (always cracks me up). The guy was nice, but informed us that they were out of stock, but we had two other stores to choose from. I almost caved and got the cheaper model, but as That Man said, we were saving $10. for a lot of features we wanted. So fine. We buy our lamp and head to the next city where we were told they had 3 in stock. (Which I didn't expect to happen, but we were on a mission)
And they did have it. It was seamless and easy and the guy was great and even filled us in on how installation has changed since we bought our last dishwasher (16 years ago....oy), but awesome! And we got what we needed for that. Thanks to K3 for letting us use his van to pick it up, and we were back home and unloaded in no time.
That Man put the new lamp together. It's really pretty and fits in the living room. And we really needed the light. I love it. He will install the dishwasher this weekend, unless he gets a wild hair and decides to tackle it sooner (you never know with him).
I then wrote a bunch, caught up on emails, did some laundry, and now it's bedtime!
I need to get my plan in place for what's coming up next! There's a lot!!
Yikes! I must sleep now! The day job has gone crazy and I need to go in earlier than normal! And probably stay later, too. Oy!
Behave!

November First

Oh geeze!
Here we are at the start of a new month!

November is going to be crazy!
1. Writers meeting. Always amazing.
2. Private writing retreat at a friend's house. (Remember I missed my annual writing retreat in May. I need this so bad)
3. Birthdays!
4. OT at work. Which makes #2 even more amazing.
5. Thanksgiving!! I am so excited! It's been a really long time since we've hosted.
6. A new dishwasher coming soon! (tomorrow?)
7. Heading into the holiday season!
8. I usually get ticked off at seeing Christmas stuff so soon, but we have a lot going on this year, so I'm excited to start planning. I actually resisted buying Christmas plates at the superstore today. I wanted to, because I was afraid I wouldn't get such a good deal again, but then I decided I didn't like those plates as much as I should... Ha!

I'm trying! You see that?

Oh and I tripped up the stairs yesterday and did something hurty to my little finger. I didn't realize how much I use that baby finger for typing! Ouch!

That is all for now...

Behave!!