Pop Quiz

Question: Why on earth hasn’t Jean blogged for 3 weeks?

(a) She has been plodding through the valley of sickness both for herself and with Maddie
(b) She started reading too much (again)
(c) She’s busy writing her book
(d) She has not gotten a moment’s peace since Madison hit the terrible twos several months “too early”
(e) She’s trying to stay on top of all her church responsibilities
(f) She’s been scrapbooking in a desperate attempt to catch up
(g) She gets overwhelmed when she thinks of how long it has been since she updated her blog and feels guilty
(h) All of the above.

Answer: h, of course. Let me further explain in an attempt to excuse my poor blogging behavior.

A. I got sick for about 5 days – just general feeling of yuckiness. Then Maddie got sick for 4 days. On the plus side, she is now old enough to communicate with some level of clarity so that I am at least able to ascertain if it is her tummy or her ears or her teeth that are bothering her. Helpful really. What is not helpful is the quantity of snot coming forth from her small person. I think we are all well now so that is a big happy thing here.

B. Don’t act like you’re surprised. I started reading the Stieg Larsson series (The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest). Initially I found the series extremely hard to get into. But once I did, yikes. All 3 books are very very good, but they are not easy reads. Meaning, it takes me a while. And I read several hundred pages a day on a slow day. Anyway, my favorite librarian (yay Kathy!) told me before I started them that they were “dark.” And that is pretty much the perfect description. There’s lots of hard-to-read stuff in there. But I sort of like the fact that he doesn’t gloss over these things and make it a pretty and happy story. I’m a fan of grit. I am on the last book so the end is in sight!

C. I actually finished draft 1 of my book about a month ago and now I am in the first edit phase. This both terrifies and delights me. It’s scary because now I go back and read what I have written and sometimes I wonder what on earth my problem was. And then I don’t know how to fix it. But on the other hand, there are moments of “brilliance” here and there. Also, since this is all based in a restaurant that exists solely in my mind’s eye, when we went out to a local restaurant for my birthday I was absolutely DELIGHTED to observe the wait staff and made scores of mental notes about the décor and ambiance. It is fun to get those moments of inspiration.

D. It isn’t that I am surprised that she hit the terrible twos early as much as it is just a complete reversal of attitude for Madison. She used to be very easy and compliant and sweet. And now she is just this naughty naughty little bugger. Though I must admit, many times when she does something bad I end up laughing.

E. I volunteer myself for several things at church and it always seems like they all need attention at one time. I’m enjoying all of them, but I am definitely feeling challenged to keep up with all of it.

F. About twice a year I scrapbook like a crazy person. This, for me, involves countless hours of preparation (page planning) and requires a trip to a craft store for a massive amount of paper. I am almost caught up now!

G. I really have been overwhelmed every time I think about the blog and how I haven’t updated the blog and how people are checking the blog and how I need to write something for the blog. And while all those other things up there have definitely impeded my ability to sit here and wax eloquent, the truth is I just took a break for no good reason. I’ll try to do better.