I have tried to write a blog post all day today. In fact, I have 3 posts saved in Drafts that I just can’t finish- I’m uninspired and they weren’t going anywhere. If I’m going to do this for the next 11 days I’m going to need some new ideas! So I’m trying some free writing tonight- setting the timer for 10 minutes and writing about my day, with no editing.

I did my usual Sunday routine this morning- coffee and a bagel at Panera and tuned the world out while I tried to write. Usually Sunday mornings are my best writing time, but not today. Today I was just stuck.

And for the first time in months, I wished I was at church with my family. Maybe it’s because I miss the sense of community, maybe it’s because Charlotte told me she wanted to go to church as a family, or maybe it was the writer’s block. And I don’t know, maybe it’s time to start figuring out this church thing. That’s a really overwhelming idea though.

I went to work all afternoon, and thankfully it was an uneventful day. Lots of happy dogs and owners reunited after travels. I wish I could travel. I haven’t been anywhere in forever. The drive home was dark. So dark. A few weeks ago on my drive home a car just a few hundred feet behind me hit a deer on the road just in front of my neighborhood. He just ran right in front of that car and was killed instantly. It really freaked me out, so I’m really cautious driving down that road now at night. The fall time change is the worst; by 6:00 pm it feels like 10:00 and all I want to do is go to bed. But I came home to giggling, tired but hyper children who still needed to be bathed, read to, and put to bed.

I made the bath, put the squirmy, silly kids in, and the faucet wouldn’t turn off. Ugh. A constant stream of hot water. I got the kids out of the bathtub, half bathed and still soapy.   I called a plumber, dressed Nolan in his jammies, and was pleasantly surprised that Charlotte dressed herself with only one reminder. Progress. Read 3 books, then 2 more because I didn’t want to argue, and the kids went right to sleep. They were obviously really tired. I hope they are tired enough to sleep past 6 am tomorrow, but that’s probably wishful thinking.

Grayson’s nurse was getting him ready for bed when I finished rocking Nolan, and she’d just finished his breathing treatment. Ryan said he’s been retching and congested all day, worse than usual. He hasn’t been sick in so long; please God don’t let him get sick this week.

The plumber got here and fixed the faucet. What a relief- and I don’t have to stay up too late waiting on him like I thought I would. This house is less than two years old and we’ve already had 3 plumbing issues- hmmm. But I’ll take that over the money pit that was our last house- yikes. What a mess that was.

This coming week is a “holiday” for all the kids and Ryan. I put that in quotes because these weeks that aren’t our usual schedule are anything but a holiday. They are just a lot of work. I’m working my normal schedule, but I’m trying to brainstorm other (cheap or free) activities we can all do together when I’m home. I probably should check the weather- is it going to be 50 degrees or 90 degrees this week? I really couldn’t say.

That’s really all I got for today. It was either this or my half-finished rant on our president’s Twitter feed from today. You’re welcome, if you made it this far.

(Also, blog post ideas for the next 11 days would be most appreciated!)