HELLO? HELLO? Is this thing on?

I apologize for the impromptu blog hiatus, but for the last few weeks I’ve been putting every spare minute I’ve had into getting book two for The Edge of Extinction ready to send off to my fabulous editor at Harper Collins. Now please don’t be confused and think the novel is done. It is FAR from done. If past experience holds true then it has at least two major editing overhauls to survive, line edits, and galley edits before it sees the light of day. BUT, the book is at least written and sent off so the whole process can begin. Why the rush? I understand your confusion considering book one is still months away from hitting real bookshelves.

Although fun fact. You CAN pre-order it now here!  Hint Hint.  Nudge Nudge.

The real motivator in all of this is baby Martin number two’s impending arrival sometime at the end of February. I let my editor in on the impending arrival before I’d even let some of my family members know because I knew it would impact the timeline for getting book two ready to go. ( Also, please enjoy the picture of “skinny” Laura. I put that in quotes because “skinny” is a relative term. I’m sure in that picture I was obsessing over 5-10 lb. Now, I would give both my arms and a leg to look like that. And I would probably have to give up all three of those appendages to hit that number on the scale. Sigh. Growing a baby is fun…)

Anyways, back to my blog abandonment. My thought process in getting book two done ahead of schedule is that it’s hard to get much accomplished with ONE baby in the house. TWO…well, hold on to your hats folks.

From what I’ve heard, showering becomes difficult…let alone finding time to write. So lets just say I’ve been in hyper drive trying to get EVERYTHING accomplished. Book stuff, house stuff, organization stuff.   Please picture Yoda saying “The nesting force is strong in this one” and you might have the idea.

Photo credit here.

The result has been driving me poor husband up the wall with my never-ending To-Do lists as I panic at him nightly about all the things WE STILL HAVE TO DO! I even typed up the massive to-do list in hopes that it would make him panic too. It didn’t. He’s oddly sensible and calm. Annoying.

Just to prove my point, my daughters nursery was done, clothes washed, stuff on the walls, diapers stocked and ready to go before I was even 25 weeks along. I’m not joking. Neither was Yoda… the force is strong.  (This is a pic from her original nursery before we moved.  DONE. WEEKS in advance. )

This time around it hasn’t been so easy. For one, the cute but incredibly busy toddler who decided naps are for wusses slows me down quite a bit. For another, when she finally does fall asleep, it takes everything in me not to just pass out as well.

But of all the things on the list that needed to get done my biggest priority was draft number one for book two getting out the door. Until that happened, everything was put on hold. And when I say everything, I mean everything.

For example, our English bulldog is balding. Again.

Before the balding…. cute, cuddly, chubby…lots of hair. My vacuum cleaner can testify to that last one.

After the balding began… notice the odd patches on her back. Not good.

The day after the draft went out the door the poor girl finally got drug to the vet lest she soon look like Dr. Evil’s cat in Austin Powers. She doesn’t have the bone structure to pull off that look. Chubby girls shouldn’t be bald.

One hundred dollars later, and we are assured the hair should soon stop falling out in tufts. Here’s hoping.

Along with our bulldog’s hair situation, the house was dirty. Things on every available surface were cluttered and unorganized. Laundry was starting to develop it’s own personality. Projects I wanted to do for the nursery and the house sat half finished and abandoned in random corners. Every spare minute went to book two. Then editing book two. Then editing it again. Then editing it one more time for good neurotic measure.

But! Book two is now OUT THE DOOR! So until it comes back and needs one of the overhauling edits I mentioned, things have been getting DONE. It feels good people. Really good.   It also helped that this weekend my in-laws whisked our daughter away to Chicago for some fun at the Shed Aquarium. It is AMAZING what can be accomplished when you have a few connected hours. I think back on my life before kids, and I wish I could give myself a good shake and yell “You think you’re busy? You aren’t busy! You’re on vacation!” And if time travel ever gets invented. I probably will. Until then. I’ll just satisfy myself with getting things checked off my to-do list. Confession.

Sometimes I even write things on the list just to check them off. It feels that good. Some people have addictions to smoking or drinking or gambling…my addiction might be to-do lists. It’s sad. But true.

Also-as I write this. I realize I might have officially turned into my mother.

Not a bad thing. The women gets things accomplished like you wouldn’t believe. Efficiency and Organization should be her middle name. It’s just so NOT who I used to be. My natural state is “hot mess.” But somewhere along the line I turned into someone who relishes organizing the mess underneath her bathroom cabinets.

Weird.

So while I work on a few new blog posts to stockpile for when my adorable toddler comes back home and makes getting things accomplished difficult again. Here are a few before, after, and progress shots of what’s been happening while this blog was silent. Enjoy!

First up….the dining nook.  New pillow covers sewn. (note the green pillows in the first picture I pulled from my daughter’s birthday.)  And the backs of the built-ins are now painted a lovely grey.  (please pardon the pictures taken from my phone. And the blue car…no excuses on that one. Just too lazy to move it.)

Next up was the playroom.   Which recently got a new ikea couch, and I sewed a “gender neutral” banner.  I didn’t think  that baby number 2 (which is a boy by the way) would appreciate all the pink.

The nursery accent wall got painted. And yes…the mask is VERY attractive.  But if it means I get to help paint…I’ll wear it.

A random “Ho” got painted too, just for good measure.  Bring on Christmas!

So again, I apologize for the absence. I’ll try not to do it again any time soon!   Now back to my to-do list. I get to check of “write blog post”.  And you know how I feel about checking things off to-do lists!