Post-Holiday Mean Reds

What is it Holly Golightly said she got sometimes, The Mean Reds? After dragging the tree out of the house leaving a pound of needles in its wake, after washing out the now-empty snowman cookie jar, and after putting out the mountain of cardboard boxes for recycling, I'm feeling agitated. I hate the days after Christmas.

Anyway, Christmas was awesome. The girls were precious...they swear they heard Santa's sleigh taking off ("the whooosh," Kicky explained). It was a day of gluttony all around. Eggnog pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast -- a four pound roast and nearly five pounds of mashed potatoes for dinner. We all went to bed that night fat and happy.

Christmas may be over, but the packages keep coming. Today we got the Cuisinart Indoor Grill we ordered (it has a griddle and a panini press!!) and my book on the Minnesota Starvation Experiment arrived. I am obsessed with this...found out about it during my research for the new book. 36 men (mostly conscientious objectors) volunteered to participate in this experiement at the end of WWII in an effort to understand how the ravages of war would be remedied...they were starved and refed over the course of a year. Fascinating. I think Sam's novel is going to be about this.

Anyway, here are my cuties on Christmas Eve....

Huuuuuuup.

That's just me coming up for air.

Alas, as the semester came to a close and just as I thought I might be able to breathe again, I took on more freelance work...needless to say, the blog and my novel have been put on the back burner on a stove that is probably not even in my kitchen. This morning I got up at 5:00 just to let my characters know I haven't stranded them in their unfinished story. I am feeling particularly antsy to make some headway because I have big plans, BIG PLANS, for next year. I might as well make the announcement now...

My first New Year's Resolution:

1. Live like a mad poet for the next 365 days: 365 days. 5 days off. 360 poems.

I am going to live, breathe, and eat words next year. I am going to try to live my life, for one year, through a poet's eyes. (That and exercise more. Eat less crap. Be a better mom. Watch less TV. Well, maybe not that much less TV.)