Writing, Dancing, Shopping and all the Craziness

Hello to everyone out there, Veronica is sleeping so you get me today(Thomas).

Well it is a new day and I have been recruited to write, which may not actually be a good thing because this means I will have written more words on here then in my novel for NaNoWriMo. Things have been crazy and it is making me more nervous than usual. The novel I wrote last year I actually wrote in the month of November so I think I should get to submit it instead of the new one, but Veronica won't let me. She keeps quoting my own words to me - "Sit Down, Shut Up, and Just Do It. No More Whining!!!"

I know she is right but wow this is just such a crazy time of year at our house, and for me in particular. I feel like there is no time to stop, in fact I am positive the same dishes have been in the dishwasher for 4 days(clean at least), there is a mound of fast food and sandwich-shop bags filling up the trash can, and of course just a total disarray of the normal tidiness of the house. You see Cloudya has had 5 ballet/Nutcracker rehearsals, along with choir, violin, guitar, a very complex president presentation and a great school performance all this week; not to mention Kaiden and hockey lessons, karate, and belt test for karate. With all of that I have filled up the car twice this week already and I am going to need to do it again before Saturday.

It is a nice change though that Veronica is finally letting the words flow, normally that is me. I have never been the one to make an outline, plot the characters course, or any of the those prewriting things. Personally I just want to let the characters go where they need to, of course I also write more of the mystery suspense style so I find it works better because I am not letting out anything too so. She has been so devoted to her comp books for outlining and character work ups that this process is really opening her up to just letting her write freely. I think I might have actually won the argument that you do not have to have every page planned in advance.

As for the rest of life, which really is only Nutcracker and getting ready for the holidays, everything is actually a lot of fun. The kids are really getting into the swing of the show, this weekend we will get the first of several 5 hour practices as they start running the entire acts and putting everything together. Still, I have to admit that I can not wait for the show to be over. It is such a wonderful opportunity for them to dance with the professional company but at the same time I want my weekends, family time, not to mention personal time back. I have a slue of movies to catch up on, cleaning that needs done, and a lot of new recipes I want to try out.

Well in a final parting I wanted to add in something in the world of retail, because I know Veronica is talking about it right now. Today I was at the store waiting for her to get done and I got to witness one of the rarest of customer personalities there is. A woman was in the toy department shopping for her grandchildren and she looked about as frazzled as she could possibly be. Evidently, Veronica had already been helping her find gifts and offering suggestions but had gotten called away so Veronica sent me to go help with the shopping task(I often get roped into helping).

Anyway, we talked about Transformers, cars, games, dolls, and cupcake makers and I showed her a few of the things that I knew had been popular with our kids that are more do-it-yourself craft things. We mulled around the toy department, I took her back to the craft section and helped her pick out a do-it-yourself messenger bag along with several other things. It was like shopping with an old friend by the time we were done, and she said THANK YOU. The best though was she kept saying that she thought she should take me to pick out a gift for myself(It was very tempting I am not going to lie). The whole experience was refreshing, and then I turned a corner and got to witness what most people are like this time of year when I ran into the mess of a customer ranting very loudly about a toy not being in stock. Sighing to myself, I looked at the poor associate trying to explain the toy was going to be hard to find anywhere while the customer continued to complain. The whole situation reminded me how a little kindness can go a long way this time of year. Everyone is stressed about things but if you can be like the grandma looking for toys and offering up presents to the people that help you even as a joke the season will go a lot better.

Best wishes to you all, and to everyone doing NaNoWriMo may your word counts grow rapidly.