Outside my window… still kind of damp and dreary after heavy rain yesterday.
I am thankful for… the kind notes and comments readers send to me when I have a devotion run at P31. It's so nice knowing the words I write aren't just floating around in cyberspace and are actually touching people's hearts and challenging them to think differently!
From the learning rooms… watercolors, craft books to spark ideas, crayons, markers... creativity!
From the kitchen… I need to bake banana bread and homemade blueberry muffins for this weekend-- my promised contribution to a girls' getaway weekend I am going on.
I am creating… Still working on my novel that is due June 1. I am coming into the homestretch and nearing the point that I know I've done all I can to it and it's up to my supremo editor to take her pruning shears to it and shape it into something I will be proud of. She's the real miracle worker in the equation.
I am reading… Just finished Every Last One by Anna Quindlen, a shocking and beautifully well written novel. I read it in just over 24 hours. It inspired me to write better, which is a good thing. For me reading is a bit like working, as I am always studying novels I read to see what works and what doesn't. This one worked but I warn you-- it's not for the faint of heart.
I am hoping… that my sick children get better and my family does well without me this weekend. I so want to join my friends but I have been gone a lot and I am feeling very torn about leaving.
I am hearing… nothing. Silence is golden.
One of my favorite things... holding a printed copy of my manuscript for the first time. I got the newest novel printed out at a local UPS store the other day so I can go through a hard copy with a red pen, the old-fashioned way. I took it home and laid it on my dresser, then remembered the copy I had printed of Mailbox when I was in the final stages of editing it. I still have that copy so I pulled it out too, holding both of them and smiling as I did. I felt like a proud parent-- seems like just yesterday Mailbox was a freshly printed manuscript, now it's about to go off into the world as a bonafide real book. How quickly they grow up!
Around the house… cleaning up messes of the type that you don't want to share on a blog... remember? Sick kids. Suffice it to say my couch will never be the same again after yesterday and no amount of Febreze will help. This is why we buy used furniture from Craig's List!
A few plans for the rest of the week… I speak at a teacher appreciation luncheon tomorrow for a local Christian school and leave directly after that for the girls' weekend in the mountains of NC. There were 4 of us who were best friends in high school. We're all turning 40 around the same time so we planned this weekend together long ago, to celebrate. The 4 of us don't see each other very often (though 3 of us still live in the same town!) so this will be reunion of sorts-- a time of rehashing old memories and catching up on each other's lives. I am looking forward to the time to just enjoy myself, but also already missing my family. After this weekend I don't have to leave for awhile... which is just the way I like it!
I will be out of pocket for the rest of the week but plan to return next week! I might even post a picture of me and my 3 friends and our 40something selves.
6 comments:
I will also say yes to used furniture! We can't keep it forever and I'd rather have people sit on it without the plastic cover. Congrats on the printed manuscript, I bet that it not only felt good in your hands, but smelled good, too. That copy machine smell is sweet and savory.
I'm excited about getting your novels. The Mailbox cover is awesome and very inviting! Can't wait to get my hands on it! I don't even know what it's about, but going off the cover alone, it looks like a great read in my hammock this summer! ;)
Have a blast this weekend! Come back refreshed and ready to care for your family.
Your P31 devotion I read last night really touched me. We just never know what God is doing and your obedience to pray & send her the e-mail w/ the time proved He is never late and out shined your late opening of the e-mail. He is so awesome!!
I just checked w/ my library to see about the novel you just read in 24 hours. Ten holds on it! Must be a good one. I'm picky about what books I buy versus borrow since Gene lost his job from the 3 surgeries he had. :)
Have a great time w/ your friends. The family will be fine, you've done a good job. As moms we feel like it's all up to us to make sure there aren't any "bumps in the road" in our day-to-day. We feel like we're the only one who can do it right. You're a great mom, MaryBeth. The bumps will happen whether you're there or not. Bumps are do-able (mountains take a little more. LOL)Go have fun this wkend and trust God to take care of the bumps, hills AND the mountains.
Have a wonderful time with your friends. YOu take wonderful care of your family and they will be ok while you are away refreshing. God will be right there. Trust Him to handle things and to give you some time that as women we need to do once in a while.
blessings
I love Anna Quindlen. Have you read her book Blessings? I also love her book Perfection (On Being Perfect?--something like that) I'm sure we come from different places in lots of ways, but she always challenges me.
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