THE PERFECT MONDAY NIGHT

Boys are in bed, girls are showering, hubby is on the phone checking on patients, and I am in a snuggly chair in front of the fire writing to my friends. It's a beautiful thing. Now if I could just get someone to refill this glass of wine...

I am so excited about you guys jumping on the NaNoWriMo bandwagon with me. I'm nervous, I confess, to be married to one piece for a month, but I guess it's not really that long. Do you guys have any idea what you're going to write? I worked on an outline/snowflake today, but now I'm thinking I might want to do something else. I've also thought it would be totally fun to start with nothing, absolutely nothing, but a character and just see what happens. It could also be horrible! Like the test you forgot to study for or something.

I was very stressed out today for a variety of reasons,so I made a redneck list. Redneck's Guide to Knowing When You're Overprogrammed
1. You can't remember if you've taken a shower or not.
2. On your way out the door, travel mug in hand, you realize you've finished the pot of coffee, and you begin to cry.
3. You haven't been in the bathroom in hours and you know you've had to go for a while.
4. Lunch, or any meal, seems like bad time management.
5. You find yourself speaking in phrases rather than complete sentences. Like, "would you please..." gesture, gesture or "Can you...?" gesture, gesture...or "What in the..."
6. Your dog starts getting agitated, too.
7. You rush to your car in the driveway, get in, and you can't remember where you were supposed to go.
8. Someone asks you to help with something at school or volunteer somewhere and you just shout, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
9. You find yourself asking people to tell your husband hello.
10. You know you're overprogrammed when you look down and see you've been wearing your jeans all day, and they're inside out.

Let's just say all ten things were inspired by my personal life. How do I get off this train? My husband teaches at UNC about every three weeks, and I try to go with him for the day once a semester. We leave very early in the morning and come back early evening. I'm going to TRY to go with him for the day this Thursday, but it is a major organizational acheivement to get all the carpools, kid stuff, etc. set up for such an outing. It makes the rest of the week insane because I'm paying everyone back for all the stuff I need them to do the rest of the week. My carpool partner is a saint, and I hate to stick her with too much. So what's the solution? Don't go? My husband is beginning to forget my name. I need to go. (Plus, maybe I can go to Trader Joes).

I'm nearing completion of my picture book manuscript, and I'm really pleased with the progress I made today. I woke up this morning with the illustrations in my head (and I'm NOT an illustrator). So this afternoon when the kids got home, I got out paint and canvasses and got everyone in touch with their creative side. Painting, even when you're terrible like me, is so therapeutic and really unleashes my creative part of my brain. If I get stuck writing, I like to pick up a paintbrush,even if I'm just painting a chair red or something, the act of painting gets my juices flowing. Try it sometime!

I read this awesome book this week. I can't wait to tell you all about it on Wednesday! It has been in my head for days.

Everyone enjoy this cold, rainy, lovely Monday evening. Thanks for visiting. djk