Well, my dear bloggy friends, May 1st has come and gone. May 1st was my big fat manuscript deadline for book #2. I wish I could say how relieved I am and how much lighter I feel with the weight off my shoulders, but it’s more of a gradual awakening. Of course, there are many straggling loose ends that didn’t quite make the deadline, so I wouldn’t dare use the word “done” quite yet.

I am starting to look for normal. Not perfection, just some kind of sane, regular rhythm around here. Like perhaps a few evenings spent on the couch knitting and talking to my husband instead of working until midnight. A shower every other day would be nice (for everyone). If you’re a regular visitor around here, you know that we moved across the country (WI to MD) last summer right before school started. I took 2 weeks to unpack than dove into this book head first as soon as the school bus pulled away from the curb on the first day of school. I have been sitting at my computer, drawing table, or sewing machine ever since. Practically.

Now there are five weeks left of the school year. Five weeks before I switch to summertime mom-mode. Five weeks to catch up on all of the things I should’ve taken care of for the last nine months…finding a dentist, start exercising again, answering long over due emails, maybe get my Maryland driver’s license…but I’m going to take it slow, one thing at a time.

Funny story…the afternoon before my big deadline, a neighbor kid rang the doorbell. I heard my oldest son answer and tell his friend, “You can’t come in, my mom has a deadline.” The neighbor kid said incredulously, “What? Your mom has a DEAD LION????!!!”

Ha! Love that. I sure did…I had a big fat dead lion and thank goodness it’s gone now.

(hey, and thanks everyone for the anniversary wishes! That photo was taken by my sister-in-law one weekend in Chicago, 1990. The roll of film was forgotten, went undeveloped for years, then was rediscovered and developed. What a nice surprise! It is my favorite photo of me and the hub.)