Now that I have no deadline

So Monday was a great day for America or maybe just for me because I finished my book and emailed the whole shebang to my editors at Tyndale. Now it’s their problem. And then it will be my problem again when I get back all my edits, but I’ll think about that tomorrow or next month.

The truth is I spent all summer thinking that I couldn’t wait to be finished. It felt reminiscent of my senior research paper in high school. But when I actually hit send on the email, I put my head down and cried real tears that were mainly relief but also sadness. It’s been such a part of my life for the last eight months that I felt a little lost.

But then the plumber showed up to install the toilet in our bathroom and discovered we had a gas leak on the side of our house, which meant I had to call the utility company to come fix it and you’d be shocked to know how fast they get to your house when you cry “gas leak”. As soon as that was repaired, the plumber realized he couldn’t turn off our water all the way because the valve was stuck and then we had to call the city to come fix it. However, after several hours and various complications we are officially a two toilet household once again.

What I’m saying is I turned in my book and was immediately thrust into a life of glamour and intrigue.

And if all that wasn’t exciting enough, I made a trip to the grocery store because I’d let us run out of everything the week before as I typed furiously like a little hamster in a wheel. One of my goals for this school year was to be better organized about dinner every night, mainly because it seems like our afternoons and evenings are much more hectic with the advent of junior high, and so I’ve spent some time on Pinterest looking for good, easy recipes. I made this sausage tortellini skillet pasta on Monday night and it was delicious. And then I made this beef and broccoli in the crockpot on Tuesday night. I thought it needed a little more flavor, but I also have the beginnings of a cold or something so my tastebuds might be off. Anyway, I just thought I’d share because the tricky thing about Pinterest is something can seem like a good idea and turn out horrible. I’m looking at you dried strawberries.

I took Caroline to school early Tuesday morning because there’s a Bible study that meets before class and then I came home and really focused on catching up on my television. The whole time I was writing, I kept promising myself that my reward would be at least a week of mindless activity and I feel like I’m off to a great start.

One more thing about the book, don’t forget to send in pictures of you and your best friends. And it doesn’t have to be just you and one best friend, it can be a group if that’s how you roll. I’ve loved looking over the pictures during the last few days and I have to say some of my favorites are the old pics from kindergarten, summer camp, prom or sorority days. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can read the post I wrote about it here.

In other news, I’ve started a list of things I’d like to accomplish in the next few months. I won’t bore you with the whole thing but it includes such things as painting all the trim in our kitchen, buying new socks for Caroline, cleaning out my makeup bag, and figuring out what to do about drapes in the living room since the puppies tore my other ones down.

I realize this all sounds very ambitious, but I plan to pace myself and only do these things after I’ve caught up on all my T.V. shows because PRIORITIES.