I sort of live my life on deadline. Ever since I graduated college, it seems I've been thriving on deadlines. I worked for a newspaper. We worked deadline every morning. Proofing and changing and writing...all to get the paper out on time.
I directed shows. Opening night gave us one great big deadline marked with a gold star on the calendar.
I started scrapbooking for publication. Getting assignments. Always on deadline.
I started writing for Memory Makers. Every month: deadlines.
I wrote scrapbooking books. Always with a deadline. Artwork deadlines. Text deadlines.
I started writing fiction. Big. Fat. Deadlines. Scary deadlines because while I read about writing fiction all the time, this is my first attempt at doing it on deadline. With a contract.
And I loved every second of it. Even, I have to say, the rewriting, which is usually where I lose steam.
But when the deadline passed and I realized I had a week-long cushion before I had to tackle the next deadline (and then the next, and the next...) I decided to revel in the mundane.
Tasks that required no thought. No stringing together of words. No thoughtful metaphors. Just mundane. And I loved it.
I started here:
I'd already cleaned off two shelves before I realized I didn't snap a horrible "before" shot. The pantry was out of control. Every time I opened it, some hidden force from somewhere deep beyond literally THREW things at me. Boxes and cans would fall or shoot in my direction, landing on uncovered toes and challenging my personal conviction not to swear.
Something had to be done.
I started by dragging EVERYTHING out. Good lord, what a job.
I covered the table.
And later, the floors and counters. It's amazing how much STUFF you can STUFF into a pantry.
The word "ridiculous" springs to mind.
Equally ridiculous was the dust city waiting for me on the floor once everything had been cleared away. I hate dust. It's kind of annoying in a dirty, grimy sort of way.
I swept it all out and threw a TON of processed food away. I threw away food from 2008. I think one box was even "best by 2006" which is sad because that means I moved that box from my old house to my new house in 2007.
My goal was to move some of the pots and pans that are taking up precious counter space into the pantry. I succeeded.
It's certainly not going to be featured in Better Homes and gardens or win me any organizational awards, but if you could see the two huge bags of garbage I recycled or threw away, you would have a better understanding of the load that has been lifted.
The Hobbit kept me company the entire time. At one point, I realized I'd been duped into believing giving him apples and peanut butter was a great way to get him to eat some fruit.
Note:
All the apples. None of the peanut butter. Sneak.
Friday night, we had our weekly family night. We're trying to be more vigilant about protecting it, making sure the kids know this is important to us. I'm hoping it's a tradition we can continue until we're in adult diapers.
This past Friday we made mini pizzas. Everyone made their own.
Everyone also found it necessary to eat the shredded mozzarella by the handful.
It's a good thing we don't believe in germs 'round here.
I cooked the sausage, set out the cheese and sauce and let them go to town. Personally, I would've loved some veggies on mine, but I got sidetracked and ran out of time...
They did a great job. Even Sam.
Sam and I made special gluten free pizzas:
which I am going to tell you, were amazing. I buy these crusts from Kinnikinnick because I don't have a GF pizza crust recipe yet, but Sam and I both loved them. We could've shared one because we each only ate half, but they make great leftovers too.
It was a great night, after the kids finished whining about how they wanted to do something else and it's so boring to make pizzas. (This is my favorite part of family night...)
...that and the fact that no one can make a normal face for a photo anymore.
Not the middle monkey...
...or his Hobbity shadow...
...or even the girl one, who sometimes surprises me with how weird she can make her face look.
We then watched "The Spy Next Door" which was pretty cute even though it only got 13% at Rotten Tomatoes. It always makes me laugh because chick flicks and kids' movies get the worst reviews. But then a terrible movie like "Up in the Air" (sorry, I HATED it) gets 90%. I don't get it. Talk about depressing.
The rest of the weekend, I found time to read this book:
...which I absolutely loved. Susan Meissner likes to weave a historical thread into her contemporary novels, which I absolutely love. I LOVE history (especially WW2, which makes a grand appearance in this book) but for some reason, I'm not in love with historical fiction. This, to me, is a great cross between the two, and I love how this story unfolds. It was a great read.
I intended to pass it along to my mom but found out she had her own copy which she finished this weekend on the plane to and from Georgia. Great minds. She loved it too.
I especially loved (don't hate me for this) that there was realistic language in this Christian novel. Meaning...there were about four swear words. Light, mild swear words, but in the kind of situation where a person would actually swear. Even a Christian. Why did I like this aspect when maybe in the past my prudish tendencies would've been more surprised? I think because it added to the realism. Writing dialogue that sounds REAL is hard. Creating believable characters is HARD.
Susan Meissner did it so well. It takes guts,and I LOVE that she put the character before the "idea" of what a character should be.
A great read. I read it in two days. I highly recommend it.
How was your weekend?
