So did I succeed? And guess who peed?

The house is clean. The kids are in bed. Dinner was cooked and was delicious. Peace and Quiet are now here to spend the evening with me.

During Henry's awake times, when I could not do much around the house, we played outside in the back yard. A family of deer visit us often, and I was happy to see this time that one of the babies no longer limps. (Unless it's a different set of deer.)

This is our tiny garden, by the way. We've got broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and tomatoes. We have no idea if we'll get anything before it frosts. Henry thinks that's fine, and says that the dirt it quiet edible.


Henry thought the deer were awesome, as is apparent in his wide grin.


Our yard is terraced. The top level is where the garden and the fence are, and then there's the middle level, which is where we have our compost pile, and then the bottom level, which is a beautiful, serene garden beneath a sequoia and a walnut tree. The deer like to nibble the soft grass and lounge there. (The deer seem really tiny in this picture.)


And in case you've never seen this...

Yes, mama deer always pees before meandering back into the woods. Guess that's like saying, "Hey, other deer, this is my spot."

Plans

Considering my house has sneezed in every room and corner possible, the book is long from being even half-done, the baby is not napping (or apparently close), I have a lot to accomplish today. So the plan is to do it. All of it. Every nook and cranny must be organized and cleaned. Every cheerio picked up off the floor (yes, the house sneezed that badly). All the diapers washed and hung out in the sun to dry. The pictures finally hung on the walls. The pile of papers stacked and shoved to the side for Jim to sift through (I refuse). The clothes washed, dried, and--gasp--put away neatly in their drawers.

Then, when the house is comfortable and unsickly, I will be able to breathe calmly and write.

If Henry allows it. He is, after all, the Demanding One now that his big sister is at preschool all day.

If only he'd take a NAP! Shhh. Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep. You're so very, very tired.

A Nested House

I woke up this morning full of positive energy. It was amazing, as if I'd been off to a dreamland where they gave me special powers or a dose of antidepressants. (Instead, I dreamt that I was at an Amway gathering and they were trying to force me to buy into the program AND vote for McCain.)

By lunch time, most of the house had been picked up, cleaned, organized, and dealt with. The laundry was finally put into the correct drawers. The bathrooms were clean. I was buzzing (and hungry) and Elizabeth was happy. The energy kept up until this evening, when we were at the library's Halloween party. Amazing. The only thing that held me back from doing everything today was my aching back and the feeling of a bowling ball between my legs.

Could this be the proverbial "nesting" instinct? Or was I just finally energized enough to tackle the chaos in my home? I do hope I'm not suddenly bi-polar, because after dragging my feet for several months and feeling pretty much like luke-warm oatmeal, I was happy and rushing around and even organized the laundry room.

Maybe the baby's coming soon. I am 37 weeks now and "full term," so the boy is fully-cooked. Any day now...or maybe in a month. Who knows?

By the way, for those of you who don't know, from now on most pregnant women are obsessed with when labor will start, and most are "done" with being pregnant. I am certainly one of those women. Which is why I have been avoiding this blog--I don't want to suddenly turn it into a "when will my baby come" blog.

Done Revising

I just finished this round of revisions on ROHANA and sent them off to my agent, Laura. Part of me wants to celebrate, but that part is very small. Mostly because I gave up. I'm sure there's more I should do, but I wanted to toss the whole thing into the fire (thank goodness for fire-resistant computer files). The Doubting Snake of Writing slithered into my writing room and wouldn't leave me alone.

Another reason I can't really celebrate is because it is now time to clean house. Elizabeth is at daycare (thank you, blessed drop-in care for us stay-at-home mommies who happen to have writing projects) for the rest of the day, and it's now time to participate in some house-wifey duties. The laundry has been piling up (clean, folded laundry that I just haven't felt like putting away). The floor needs to be vacuumed. The bathrooms need to be tidied. And all must be put in its rightful place before the wee one gets here.

Now, some Octobery delight:

Small, Medium, and Large Pumpkins


Running through the Straw Maze