Back in the Swing of Things

The holidays have come and gone, and I'm sad about that. I spent the holiday in Utah with my family, my parents, and all my siblings and their families. There were three babies, three cute little girls, lots of games, and way too much good food. My five-year-old and two-year-old got to go sledding for the first time, and seeing the sheer joy on their faces as they slipped down the (albeit small) hill in my parents' backyard made the twelve-hour drive worth it.

Today was the first day hubby went back to work, and it's just me and the kiddos around the house, and I have so much to get done. I still haven't gotten the Christmas tree down, but honestly I'm not in a hurry to do it. The house is so bare when all the decorations go away. I have a huge list of the deep-cleaning jobs I need to do around the house. My babe is three-months-old, and now that I feel like I'm finally out of survival mode, the housework that sat neglected is now roaring at me.

And I need to write. I finally made myself sit at the computer last night and start plunking out the finally volume of Terra's adventure on the Burn. Yes, this will be the last book for Terra. There may be prequels (my husband asked my last night if I would ever write a prequel about the colonies being formed, and my brain instantly started churning as I thought, "Hmm...intriguing..." and then my brain jumped to, "Ooo...and a prequel about the Event!"--but there's no promises on that front right now. I have another project on the backburner).

So now I'm hunkering down. Today I already have: fed the kids breakfast, worked out, ran in the grocery store to get milk, vacuumed and mopped, started two loads of laundry, fed the girls lunch, cut some coupons, nursed the baby three times, managed to squeeze in a shower and a pinch of makeup, put the chicken in the oven to roast, deadheaded and watered my beautiful oversized pot of petunias, kissed a few owies, wrangled my girls into cleaning up their shoes and the family room, read two books with my girls, and wrote this blog post. That's all I can think of off the top of my head, at least :) Those people who say that a stay-at-home mom doesn't know how to work obviously have never done it!

Wish me luck. According to the outline I've written, this last book is going to be a doozy, and who knows how it will veer off when I'm in the midst of it. That's the great thing about outlines--they always change.

So Happy New Year to you! I hope this year is full of joy and love, and lots and lots of good books!