No, I'm not talking about the re-release of the SEP book. I'm talking about the little glittery things all over my house. Glittery bits from sparkly tissue paper and the beautiful decoration I made for the table in my foyer. Glittery pieces sprinkled on the tables and rugs and hardwood floor and are hard to clean up, even with my super-duper new vacuum cleaner.We undecked the halls over the weekend while I still had #2 son at home to help the DH wrangle down the tree. All the ornaments, garland, candles and reindeer are packed in their storage boxes, ready to be stored away. I even managed to disassemble the lighted reindeer and put them back in the boxes they came in. It was kinda like re-folding a road map.
We shop and wrap and decorate for weeks prior to Christmas and then poof! It's all over in a day and it's time to undo it all. I enjoy decorating even if I complain about it. I put on the Christmas music and sing along as I make the house look festive.
The week after Christmas I have to figure out why the stuff I pulled out of boxes has grown and doesn't want to go back in those same boxes. I have to put away my gifts and write thank-you notes (note to self: DO THIS). The bottom line is I'm undecking the halls, putting jingle bells and good tidings back in the closet and returning to ordinary life. And while I'm doing that, I see all sorts of things that need to be done like cleaning baseboards, dusting behind large pieces of furniture and washing a door with grandbaby fingerprints all over it.
The big problem is, I have a book to finish -- a book I'm having a difficult time getting back into. It's terrible when dust seems more attractive than writing. Add in that I had doctor's appointments on Monday and yesterday (got a clean bill of health!), a haircut appointment this morning, have a coffee date with a chapter member tomorrow morning and I need to get prepared for a presentation at our RWA meeting on Saturday. It's tax time and my DH-the-accountant will want my financial records soon.
My mother's birthday is next weekend and I still haven't bought a gift for her. And the DH and I are going to the Caribbean at the end of the month and I'll need to start getting ready for that soon. I have to find where I stored the sundresses I bought in August when the stores put them on sale. I know where my passport is, thank goodness, but I need to buy sunscreen. I have a Red Hat lunch next Thursday and a follow-up appointment with my orthopedic surgeon next Friday to check the foot he operated on almost a year ago. A proofreading job landed in my lap with a deadline of January 14th. Oh... and my Golden Heart entries arrived on Monday and need to be read and judged.
How is it that the most wonderful time of the year suddenly morphs into a glittery mess that's booked solid on my calendar?
Is anyone else having trouble getting back into the swing of things?
P.S. eHarlequin has been nominated for the Best Community Blog on Weblog. We're quite partial to eHarlequin on the Playground. Once every twenty-four hours you can vote here through 4 PM CST on January 13.
P.P.S. If you've been with us for a while, you may remember the post I made in July 2007 about a remarkable baby story. Well, this family welcomed another member last night. Romance writers just love baby stories. :-)
18 comments:
Lord sister are you even breathing? I'm tired from just reading your to-accomplish list. Good luck with all your items. Yes, it's hard getting back into the swing of things, but yesterday I had an event so that got the ball rolling for me.
robertsonreads
I always have a hard time getting back into the routine. I give myself permission to ease into it slowly the first week.
I totally understand the "all the dirt must go" feeling. This year I decided to IGNORE it all until I am done editing the MS. Then I will take a week to tackle the worst of it and right after that I am doing BOOK IN A WEEK with April Kihlstrom. That should put my bu** in the fire.
We have to head out of town on Friday so I lose that day, too.
The other thing that is hard is the silence. You go from having a house full of people, laughter, cooking, interuptions, and joy to everyone gone to work and school and home -- somehow the silence is more overwhelming than the noise and harder to conquer as a distraction.
I have glitter everywhere...sigh. (Counselor Shelley wrapped AC's gifts in paper covered in glitter. You can imagine the horror...)
I had a friend who called glitter the "Herpes of the Craft Table" because you never really got rid of it all...
If I'd been drinking anything, I'd have spewed it everywhere over that "Herpes of the Craft Table" comment. LOL!
When I got my Christmas decorations out this year, I noticed my wreath was looking a little sad, so I went to Hobby Lobby to get some new stuff to spruce it up. I found this prety blue ribbon with silver poinsettas and snowflakes on 50% off. Winner! When I got it home and started unwinding it, I found it was not silver thread, but glitter. Sigh. By the time I got done, there was glitter on the floor. On the table. On the dog. On DG's Guitar Hero box several feet away. Glitter paw prints across the floor. Was really pretty, though.
As for my schedule... I think I'm ok. I'm deliberately trying not to overdo it. Of course, then I double booked DB for Spamalot and the Atlanta MX race, so I might be bringing my mom instead. He was very displeased with me. Oops.
My January is dedicated to one thing: finish the damn book. But of course there's a HOD meeting in there (wouldn't miss it!) and some other things. I still have to get with the photographer for my head shots (we've been crossing paths lately). Hubby is planning a Super Bowl bash (though he's been told I am on deadline and all prep is up to him). I'm sure there are other things (like take down the tree -- um, yeah, it's still up, but of course in Europe, Jan 6 is the end of Christmas anyway so I've only just today gone over).
LOL, PC. Leave it to you to deliver a zinger. Herpes of the craft table. I love it!
SP, I had the exact same thing happen with a pretty ribbon I bought! Except I thought it was gold thread. *sigh*
I've always wondered why they put glitter on clothes. I have this KISS t-shirt with a red glitter ice cream bar on it. (Lick It Up!) Anyway, everytime I wash that thing, even turn it inside out, some of the glitter escapes. Not a lot. I wouldn't wash it that way if it did, but this almost imperceptible shedding that I don't notice until I put on another shirt and find just 1 spec of red glitter.
Ugghh! I feel you. I'm truly having a difficult time. The kids started back to school yesterday and though it should have been a joyous occassion, has actually gone downhill from there. The list is getting longer and longer.
Once I got my tree down, I stalled on the Christmas decorations. I just don't seem to notice the other ones, so I haven't taken them down yet. Maybe if I do one thing each day...
Angel
I think sometimes we have such high expectations of how we're going to use our time productively when everyone gets out of our hair, that we set ourselves up for disappoinment and guilt. A few years ago, I decided not to play that game. Whatever I manage right now, is good enough.
And that dang microwave timer is really good at getting me going. Somehow, just getting started by saying "it's only an hour, the dang thing will beep in an hour and save me from this nightmare I'm writing..." well it helps me get in front of it.
Good luck Lynn with the book and all the work you're putting into it.
Glitter... I have a glitter story... I rolled candles into glitter and thought they were marvelous one Christmas--till my fifth grader at the time dumped the leftover glitter on her head. I think there is still glitter in the hardwood floor cracks in the old house--
Love the glitter stories and PC's comparison to Herpes. LOL!
I feel swamped. The things I need to do are going slower than anticipated for various reasons and the pressure is on. In the meantime, I've been trying to take down our Christmas stuff and only now need strong backs to haul everything and put it away.
Dust has been calling out to me too. I've been doing some cleaning.
Now if I could just get someone to upload the program I need into this new hard drive, life would be quite magical.
Kathy, just put the disk into the computer and it shoudl automatically install. The key code should be on the CD case. It may ask if you want to install just part or all.
Ah! The problem is there is no disk. LOL! Both #2 and #3 have the program but neither can find the disks used to install it. So, I have to use their computers only when they have the time to let me and I've still got to figure out how to get it uploaded onto mine. I may just have to break down and buy it. (sigh)
Well, it is at that point that I would remind my children that everything they own actually belongs to be in a court of law and bump them off the computer to do what you need to do. :)
I always have a hard time getting back into the swing of things but I think its been worse this year for some reason!
Well, I used Christine's method and spent chunks of 45 minutes each working today. Got some revisions read on my first revision project of the year and some planning accomplished. And laundry, good lord the laundry piling up! But I finished 3 loads today. I think that's good.
Now to tackle the kiddio's homework and a client appointment this afternoon. :(
Angel
Easier said then done sometimes, SP. ;)
There is light in yonder window, however. I finally got the thing finished because #3 came home early from school just for me. Woot!! (Gee, wasn't that sweet?) And, his program let me switch the file to .pdf. Yahoo!!!
Yay, I'm glad my suggestion worked... but I got it from Wet Noodle Posse, so the original idea is not mine. Thank goodness for the way the romance writers support each other!!
I managed to plow through some more of my revision amidst laundry, the phone interupting me constantly, and my bizarre attraction with yanking out the first of many gray hairs I will find as I get older.
Now why is pulling gray hairs more attractive to me than facing the computer?
Yikes! You've got a full plate! And I've got nothing to complain about. LOL
Good luck to you!
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