Bobblehead.

If you want to see why I am a bobblehead, check out this link:

http://www.guideposts.org/hope-and-faith/god-provides-faith-and-cars-college-student

(or you can raid your neighbors magazine basket...)

It's here!

:)

Hunger.

I have spent the last four days stuck in bed, not because I am sick, but because I am weak. I miscalculated what my stomach could handle and made an incredibly delicious homemade mac-and-cheese Thursday night... with a flour, butter, paprika, chicken stock, and milk base, add in some cheese to melt and top it off with a dab of Dijon mustard, oh, it was good.

Good tasting, anyway.

My stomach and my taste buds disagree on the definition of "good". So, after a rendezvous with an IV bag in the Urgent Care center last Friday (after many rendezvous's with a barf bag), I have been pretty much bed/couch bound as I have only been allowed to eat clear liquids for a few days. Today, however, I had a banana, a piece of toast, and a small bowl of rice. I am moving on up. Although my body gets tired quickly, my brain is alive and well, so I have been writing (in spurts, between sleeping, and watching TV shows online).

Guess what I wrote about today? Making delicious food while in Ebeye. It is what flowed from my fingertips to the screen. I bet you can see what is on my mind right now. I cannot wait to eat. But no more mac-and-cheese, please no!

Envy.

"Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action is -- where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge."

~Robert C. Shannon

Squeeze.

Writing takes time, but sometimes I do not have time to give. So I have to find time to squeeze it into my life. Like right now, for instance... I had exactly 22 minutes before I needed to walk out the door to pick up my husband and then I will need to come home, cook, eat, and on and on. But instead of my usual time wasting, I took those 22 minutes in my hand and used them. And I got a good start to a chapter down. Just like building a lego house, if I add a little bit here and then a little bit there, pretty soon those little pieces become something big and great. It's all about having that little piece in your hand and knowing where to place it.

Premature.

During some "free time" today (if such a thing exists for a teacher -- I guess it is more like, "During my time-I-decided-to-ignore-my-ever-growing-pile-of-STUFF-and-take-care-of-me time...") I went online to find out about publishing a book.

Bleh.

I had in my mind before this that I would be completely happy with self-publishing, and this google search just made that option look even more do-able. The whole getting your book published thing, well, it is quite a whirlwind of craziness that seems almost impossible to navigate. To publish you must have an agent. To have an agent, you must write a stellar proposal that will be rejected for the tiniest flaw. To avoid the tiniest flaw you must find someone to help prepare it. To find someone to help prepare you must sell your idea to them... and on and on. Sheesh. As if the writing part was not overwhelming...

But before I face this big step and battle it out with myself and the publishing world, I must first write the book.

(FYI -- I will try the publishing thing, and if it works, GREAT. And if not, there are tons of ways to self publish (and I am not talking Lulu.com here...). Either way, this book will be on my hand and hopefully on a bookshelf near you at some point in the nearish-future.)

Progess.

I didn't write, but I sat down and organized my thoughts for about 40 minutes, a little pre-writing if you will. And that totally counts. Guess I am really am not in a slump after all. And now I have direction again. Boo-yah!

Blah II.

I took my complaints of my slump yesterday to my biggest fan, Paulo. "I am losing focus," I wailed. "I used to be so excited, and now I just want to sit around and do nothing. What is wrong with me?!" And, being my wiser half, he pointed out something very important: In the past seven days I have (ahem) given a presentation to the school board, had my yearly evaluation and did all the massive amounts of paperwork that goes along with that, made quarterly report cards, had company over for a few days, worked all day on Sunday at our Open House at school where I convinced three new families to send their students to our school, and continued my everyday activities that make up being a teacher, a wife, and an individual. This comes after three weeks of being sick while travelling around the world and later halfway across the country. So no, I am not in a slump, I am tired. And being tired, well that has an easy remedy: sleep. I have blocked off this upcoming weekend to do just that. The only thing on my schedule is church, but even that... I think I will just sit in the back this time, none of this "Be-in-the-middle-of-everything" mentally that I so often have. I will go in, I will go out, and I will go home. And then I will sleep some more.

Oh, how glorious that sounds!

(Photo curtesy of weheartit.com)