My crazy boys....and a quiet night.

So, as I shared earlier, winter is lingering.... Yet my boys--16yo, 10yo and the hubby--are at a scouting campout this weekend. Yes, camping. In the snow. IN TENTS! CRAZY!!! While I admire their...adventurous spirits, I'm quite happy to be here at home, inside, where it's warm and dry. 

I'm hoping all the layers of clothes and many blankets and sleeping bags are keeping them sufficiently warm. *worried mama frown here*

With them off, it was just the girls (14yo and 12 yo) here for the weekend. Then, the 12yo decided to go have a sleepover with my niece, who is 4. She wanted her big cousin to come have a sleepover before their family left on their big trip out of the country, and my girl was more than happy to oblige. She is really fantastic with kids--opting to spend her spring breaks with aunts and uncles helping care for kids--and it's so much fun to see what a nurturer she is. So, off she went. I know for a fact they are having tons of fun, including dress up and hair styling, because they FaceTimed me a bit ago to see how I was doing and to tell me about their night so far. :-) 

Now, it's just me and my older daughter. And we're both on computers writing. So it's oddly quiet here at Chez Jarman. I plan on taking full advantage and getting a lot done. :-)

Hugs
~J

The First Half of Summer Vacation

Holy crap, how can it be July already? Things have been nutso in Chez Jarman - but that's nothing new, eh? (And there's my Yooper coming out thanks to my 2 week trek into the wilds of Upper Michigan)

Summer started off with a bit of stress. My 11 year old ended up in the hospital to get her appendix removed. Thankfully, she is doing well and pretty much back to normal. Having the kids home for the summer... Well, that has cut into my writing time more than I anticipated. I think I tend to overestimate how much I can accomplish with a houseful of people. But I am managing to write every day. Even if it's only a couple hundred words.

At the end of June, I had the pleasure of spending a week with a group of author friends at a cottage on Lake Superior in Upper Michigan. It was amazing and I'll be doing a separate post on that right after this one. :) I have pictures and everything.

The following week, the hubs and kids met me up there and we camped for 5 days at the state park on Lake Superior. I loved it, but man, the Lady Lake Superior threw some fits. One night, the storm that came off the lake completely took down our tent. Leveled it. Thank goodness my parents live only 10 miles from the park. So they were lucky enough to get a call from me at 1am saying, "Unlock the doors; we're heading over." We had another night that storms rolled through, so 2 out of the 5 nights we spent at Mom and Dad's. But other than that, it was a beautiful week spent enjoying the area. I miss living up there, and certainly didn't appreciate it enough when I was there.

Now, I'm back, catching up with the day job and getting back into the swing of working every day again.
LOL

The rest of the summer is just as busy with family camping with the hubs' side of the family, bringing our oldest to base camp (boy scouts) to spend 6 weeks training as a counselor, Authors After Dark in NOLA at the beginning of August, and hubs and I are planning a weekend away alone to celebrate out anniversary at the end of August. Come September, I'll be sighing in relief when the kids head back to school. Even though the school year is busy as all get out, I'll have my days back. And I'll REALLY have them back because I'll no longer be doing childcare during the day for my 3 year old niece. Her baby sister is arriving in September and their mama has decided to stay home then. So, in theory, I'll be able to get loads more done, right? LOL

Stay tuned for pics and tales of the Yooper Writing Retreat. :)

Hugs
~J

Insanity...

Holy crap... This week has been I-N-S-A-N-E. The day job is busy, busy, busy. I've been trying to keep the house in order (a completely impossible task, it seems), and we're prepping for a long weekend of camping starting Friday. Color me thrilled. :-

I have lists coming out of my ears - I'm big on lists. List of meals for each day, list of things needed from store, list of things to pack, list of things that need to be accomplished before we leave. It's overwhelming, but the lists help. At least I think they do. Helps me put it all in perspective.

Not a ton of writing has happened... Okay, I'll be brutally honest: No writing has happened the last week or so. And I don't like it. No. One. Bit. Mostly it's been out of my control. Work has to be done (whether for the day job or at home - the kids want to eat every day for some reason. Go figure). Limited computer/online time as some wicked storms have rolled through. Two weekends ago nearly 30 tornados touched down southwest (I think...I'm directionally challenged); here, we just had major rain and weird/scary looking skies. Last weekend was worse for us. Massive rain fall - our road was flooded, water in the basement, branches down etc. Could have been worse though. I know this. I think of those who lost their homes and everything they own in the tornados/storms, and I'm grateful all we suffered was lose of electrical stuff for a while and a bit of mess to clean up.

So I'm trying not to be pissy about the not writing...but I am. LOL I said, trying. It's hard not to be bothered by it. I love writing; it's my passion. And having to put it on hold sucks. But this will pass. And I plan on writing this weekend. Granted, it'll be long hand as I'm not taking computers campings, but sometimes writing in a notebook sparks something. In fact, when I'm 'blocked', I'll often grab a notebook and pen and things start to flow. I'm not going to question that - it just works for me. LOLOL

Gotta run. More to do. Everyone, have a great night!

Best,
Jess