MOTIVATION: I DON'T HAVE IT ;)

I have been having nothing but troubles with my new blog layout so I will be changing it soon! Sorry for the constant crazy changes. LOL

So, I've been having some motivational issues as you can tell. I didn't do a blog at all last week. I am eyeballs deep in trying to finish up my latest novel and that doesn't help get me interested in much else. I actually have it written, but I am in the process of typing. Then will come editing/beta reading and I may have to cut it a bit, which would be heartbreaking because I love it so much. I am at 66,000 words now and still have three chapters to type.

I am also enjoying the time off my kids are having for winter break.  They have been relatively well behaved and it has been fun.  Today, the boy is sick and I hope everyone is okay by Christmas. I'm not exactly sure what is wrong though. He was complaining about his throat which could mean nausea or sore throat (that's just how he manifests it) And he also sounds stuffy and is tired and a bit warm.  He has thrown up once but that could have been him choking on fever reducer so we will just have to wait it out and see.

And now because my motivation is lagging, I am behind on the whole Christmas thing. I have to wrap presents and buy stocking stuffers still and it is Christmas eve, eve!  Aaah, I'm feeling that busy crunch now, when I have other stuff that needs to be done.  I told you it would come back to bite me in the ass! I hope to do some wrapping today/tonight and the stocking stuffers will have to wait until I figure out how many more we need. The package from my sister in law was delayed so we don't know how many stocking stuffers she sent.  (The delay is a whole different story that I may chronicle in a future blog if I end up having to file a formal complaint with the postal service)

So now, my schedule for the day - Type, edit, wrap, shop, household chores, take care of sick boy (who is now feeling a bit better and is playing on the Xbox), wait for postal carrier, sort presents, fix tree that was knocked over...don't ask, start pre prep for Christmas dinner, make about a thousand phone calls...and I know there is stuff I'm forgetting. I will be doing this while being in the most pain of my life but thanks to support from great readers and fans like YOU! I've got this. :) And it's gonna be a great day.  If I don't see you before then...Have a wonderful Christmas!!!! <3 <3 <3

Until Next Time...I still haven't figured out how to deal with lack of motivation except to just get off my butt and do what needs to be done. I'll be trying to do that today, and if I can't for some reason, I'll live with it because truthfully, what else can you do!

One of my novels is on sale until Christmas Eve at 5 p.m. mountain time if you are interested.

This book will make you laugh, it will break your heart and it will give you hope. - And it's on sale for only 1.99 until Dec 24th at 5 p.m. MST! http://goo.gl/rOJOU0

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY...OR NOT!

Now that Thanksgiving is over and the house is decorated for Christmas, we find ourselves in a lull. The presents are bought (except for a few), it has been decided which ones will be from Santa and which ones from mom and dad, and wrapping has to wait until closer to the big day. Presents can't be put out yet because our tree is so close to the door and melting snow/mud/presents do not mix!

So what do we do now until the big day draws closer? The kids have more activities at school, but once I drop off the snacks and sign the permission slips, I'm done. I guess we could bake some cookies or other treats, but I really don't need those here in the house. Eh who am I kidding we will be doing some baking this year, I just need to wait until I dig the recipes out. But still, that doesn't take much time...maybe a half hour each night. We usually watch tons of Christmas shows, but this year, the XBox has taken center stage out front and nobody seems to be missing them much. I might have to venture into the bedroom and take anyone willing to come along with me. We have a TV in there it yes, it gets ABC Family...We'd be all set. But still that doesn't take all night either.

I think I know the problem! There is NO rush this year.  The presents are bought (except a few), so we aren't running around all month getting this or that and wrapping this or that and buying batteries for this or that. Hell, even on Christmas Eve we will have it easy.  Nothing needs to be put together this year. I know, I know, 'just relax and enjoy' you say. Do you know how hard it is to do that when for the last eighteen years this was the busy season??? I was emailing a friend the other day and I told her I would be having a busy week this week because I thought there was so much more to do than there really is.  Well, it seems that I might be wrapping a few gifts and buying the last of the presents and maybe going to the post office. But that's it!  Nothing Nada...(well except I will be writing, but that's not work, that's fun...most of the time).

Okay, Okay, I will try to relax and enjoy it because hopefully soon the Hubs will have a longer work schedule and I will be having to take the kids to and from school every day. I'm not going to like that, with my hip pain it will increase my work load ten fold. So, yes, I will relax and enjoy my first ever non-busy holiday season. I can do this right?  Yep, I sure can!!!

Until Next Time...When you've got it easy, ENJOY! Because believe me, it might not always be that way.  Take a moment, and smell the roses (or the Christmas Cookies) YUM! :)

WINTER WONDERLAND

So, as most of my regular followers know, I love the cold and I hate the heat. And that is why we moved to Wyoming, to have more of the cold and less of the heat. But when you get to a cold climate, snow usually follows. That's just how it is. No big deal I loved snow - until I had to drive in it in Casper, where the plowing sucks and the school district doesn't cancel school in dangerous situations. But hey, I tolerated it.

Well now I think I have come to the end of my tolerance and it isn't for reasons that you would think. It's not that I don't like the cold. It's not that I'm tired of the beauty. It's not that I want to move to Ketchikan, AK (where it doesn't snow nearly as much as people think) so bad I can barely stand it. It is because I can't walk in the snow anymore.  As most of you know, snow and ice requires you to walk carefully (except for kids and skinny shits who move lightly). Well, that just won't do for me anymore.  Walking carefully while trudging through the snow is doing my pain/hips/knees more damage than falling on ice probably would.

Now here it comes, those people who are going to say - 'I told you so, I told you not to move to a cold climate.' Well this is my message to you. IT ISN'T THE COLD CLIMATE THAT IS BOTHERING ME! It's just the damn snow. If I could find a place that gets really, really cold but doesn't snow, I would be there in a heartbeat. Bah bump, bah bump, bah bump.

I had to get the little's from school myself the other day. The thermometer in my car read 0 degrees. I stood out in it for about 10 minutes, waiting for them and it was actually refreshing. Yes, you heard me right, I said refreshing!!! I feel so alive after I have been out in the cold like that. But the walk to and from the car is what killed me. The plows obviously forgot to come out in our town with this storm because not only did I have to walk through near ankle deep snow on the sidewalks but also on the street in front of the school. ( They are supposedly a high priority for plowing, but not this storm). I have not hurt so bad since the minute I stood up for the first time after my first c-section. It was awful. Not to mention the snow that is in my driveway/yard that I have to herd the little one through a couple of times a day.

So I have come to my end. I must get away from the snow. But I will mourn the extreme cold. I might even be willing to move back home to heatsville since I can't leave the house much anymore anyway, but then again I don't want to mourn the loss of the extreme cold for the rest of my life either. Hmmm. This is something I will have to think about. The two places I want to move are cool and can even get downright cold sometimes so I think that might be our compromise. I will have cool with occasional cold and maybe even the occasional extreme cold day. Yeah, I think I can live with that.  Too bad it will most likely be several years before we can move. Until then, I think I will invent a way to walk on air to get to and from places in the snow.  Hey, that could be a solution. Hmmmm. ;)

Until Next Time... Don't judge people for choices they made when those choices seem to start to go south. When we first moved to cold country I had no clue that my occasional hip/back problems would become permanent or that my migraines would go form pain to aura (which are bothered by the brightness of snow). Therefore, I had no clue that I wouldn't be able to live in cold country for the rest of my life. We didn't make the wrong decision to move here, we made the right one. But it seems there were other plans for us and it will be exciting to see where they take us. <3

GETTING READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Our weekend was great - how about yours??? Eating, shopping, spending time as a family, playing, having fun!

We had a pretty good Thanksgiving even though we were missing one person. It was strange not having her here or even being able to talk to her on the phone, but we made the best of the situation.  I must say that the food was excellent this year!  We were luckier than some to be able to have our feast.

There is so much we have to be thankful for. Our family may have been torn partially apart by outside sources, but at least everyone was healthy!!! We have plenty of food, a roof over our heads and a furnace that works (but breaks every year ;) ). We have the holiday season to show us how important friends and family are.

The day after Thanksgiving, The Hubs was off to work and the kids and I were prepared to decorate all day.  But first a trip to the store, which I was surprisingly able to make myself despite my issues. I left the baby and The Sophomore sleeping and took the two 'littles' with me.  It was an amazing morning! Both kids behaved and I actually got to spend quality time with them. We were able to talk and really communicate with each other. And we were looking forward to the instant repeat of our previous night's dinner!!! Then it was home again for decorating. And here is how that turned out...

Before decoration

Cheesy girls ready to decorate

More cheesy girls

Tree hugger ;)

Trying to be a tree hugger

Decorated, finally!

Decorated with lights off!

The final product!

The stockings were hung on the wall with care ;)

One missing :(

The counter (left)

The counter middle

The counter right

Our TV stand and yes, that is marker on it.  Hope it comes off! ;)

Until Next Time...Cherish your family, you don't know when something might happen to disrupt your life plan. Happy Holidays everyone!