Christina Suzann Nelson

As a kid, I despised April Fool’s Day. Being shy and insecure -and maybe a bit self-centered- I worried that all the kids were laughing at me. My oldest son is my opposite. He lives for April 1st. I lay in bed last night wondering why he hadn’t come up the stairs to go to bed yet, then I heard a crash and remembered. That’s right, it’s March 31, Rya’sn stay up late and rearrange the house night.

This morning I crept down the stairs with care. I really didn’t want to run into anything sticky or slimy. Thankfully my younger son had already been through the plastic wrapped doorways. As expected, the dishes were reshelved and random items had found new homes. You have to give it to the boy, he’s dedicated.

One of the first things I do in the morning is check my email. I glanced over at the kid’s computer (the new laptop is somewhere in Colorado this morning) and found the monitor had been replaced by a television set.

I wouldn’t be a good mother if I didn’t play along. He’ll find a note tucked into his sandwich today, if he’s able to get through all the duct tape around the sandwich container.

It will take me all day to put the house back together, but I don’t mind. In three years, Ryan will be off to college, and I’ll miss this. But I sure hope his roommate has the same attitude.

By the way, Emma stinks like shaving cream. I’ll let you figure that out.

Have a fun day,

Christina

What a Friday. I still can’t believe it myself, but all four of our kids were away overnight. Jason and I had the entire house to ourselves. That never happens.

When my sweet husband came home from work he took me out shopping for a new laptop . I had decided on the one I wanted, and it was on sale at our local Staples. Well, it turns out that they’d just sold the last of that particular model, so I don’t have it in my possession yet. But come next Friday, when the UPS man makes the bumpy drive down our dirt road, my face will look something like the picture on the screen above.

Two great Fridays in a row.

Have a wonderful week,

Christina

I’ve been wondering a lot lately about how I’m going to get my writing done without my laptop. I try to write during the day, but the kids computer is right in the middle of everything. With so much “everything” happening in our house, I can’t seem to concentrate.

Wednesday night I attempted to have a late night writing time. Jason wouldn’t go to bed, so I felt bad and gave up a little after eleven. Last night I set my alarm for 4:30 AM. Yep, that’s right. 4:30 in the morning. Oh, it hurt to hear it go off that early. Jason jumped up and wanted to know what was going on. I told him I was going down stairs to write, and he said he’d go with me. Luckily, I was able to get him to stay in bed.

So I got a good hour and a half of uninterrupted writing time this morning, and it felt great. Okay, the getting up felt horrible, but once I had a cup of coffee and my manuscript in front of me, everything fell into place.

I guess there’s a reason for that silly alarm clock after all.

It’s another shocking event in the Willamette Valley. Sunshine. Yep, I heard it with my own ears. The temperature is expected to be up to 67 tomorrow. There are no clouds in the sky, and the flowers are blooming. I do believe we’ve made it through another soggy Oregon winter.

On another note, I got some writing done yesterday. Within the week I should be back to where I was when the computer disaster of 2010 hit. I’m sure I’ve bellyached about this enough, but I lost a portion of my current manuscript when I lost my dear laptop. It could have been the whole thing, but I had emailed myself a copy in December. Yeah, me!

The good news is that I think these new scenes are better than the originals. There’s just something about a sunny day that makes everything seem wonderful.

Enjoy the sun,

Christina