That One Weekend When Nobody Showered

Yes I said it…NOBODY showered; not Brian or Liam nor I showered the entire.weekend.long.
It also should be called:

The weekend we thought Liam had the plague, then the flu, but it turned out just to be hand-foot-and mouth.
The weekend we were quarantined inside our home with worse cabin fever than a hunter in the middle of winter hyped up on red bull.
The weekend we ran through all of our dishes and laundry before we stopped to do a load.
The weekend we watched Croods twice, Lady and the Tramp four times, and Veggie Tales once because Liam couldn’t get off the couch.
The weekend the couch was never more than two feet away from a puke bucket.

The weekend we sat covered in germs and stink next to Liam on the couch because he begged for us to just hold him, hold his hand, hold his cup, hold his roo-roo—both of us to hold him---and we did without moving, without a grudge, and without showers.

Let me tell you it was worth it. And so was using the entire can of Lysol and the entire water tank of hot water Sunday night.

Sometimes little superheroes just need to be held.

Writers Gotta Read

I’m not going to lie, I have been such a slacker lately. I have been too busy to write, too busy to read and too busy to stop and breathe. That is all about to change.
I took a new, totally amazing, totally rewarding, totally WORTH IT  job back in August this year, and we have been trying to perfect our family schedule ever since then. The new job gives me mornings with Liam when Brian is working and then time with the both of them in the evenings after 6 pm, but there is no time for “me” time. I used to write in the mornings after Brian took Liam to work and then have my alone time with Liam in the evenings from 4-6pm before Brian got home but not anymore.  Now my mornings are filled with giggles and tickles, fixing breakfast and packing lunches, and occasionally sleeping in with my snuggle bug Liam.
I WOULD NOT, WILL NOT, CHANGE THEM.
So where is the time to write and paint and read?

When I started the new job and started coming home after 6 pm to dinner on the table, followed by bath time then reading time, then brush teeth and bed time---well there was no time left. 
I sit here now writing only because my little blonde bear has a horrible virus/plague and has spent the past three days napping on the sofa. Soon though he will be back to his normal bouncy self and then we will be back to the normal schedule.

So as I explained to Brian in so many words, “if I do not write I do not function” and he looked at me with those “I don’t understand but I will fix it” eyes…..a plan developed. I will deliver Liam early to our sitter once a week before work and have an hour to write then as well as turning off the TV one night a week for BOTH of us to write, read or whatever. A mandatory no TV night.

Hallelujah.

Since I believe with everything in me that writers have to be readers, I have been looking for books to motivate and move me, or just make me enjoy the read, and I have developed my LIST. (Queen of lists right here.)

Like any good list, it is primed and ready for expansion; so I am willing to hear input as well but what I have so far is this:

Eleanor & Park—by Rainbow Rowell
The Book Thief – by Markus Zusak
How to Raise Selfless Kids in a Self-Centered World—by Dave Stone
Give Them Grace—by Elyse M Fitspatrick and Jessica Thompson
Radical—by David Platt

So here’s to the love of books, both writing and reading alike!