Yes, yes, I know.  It’s totally fall now – but when I first wrote this a week or so ago, the weather hadn’t decided.

Here’s the thing:  I have the clinic mostly written up.  I’ve jotted down all my notes, and I’ve got the next post about 90% done (missing the photos), and am already working on post #3.

BUT:  As you will find out in one of the later posts, while we were there our tent was flooded during a summer storm.  My little Macbook Air tried to hang on, but it died a valiant death about three weeks ago…. and ALL of my post material is on it.

Oh, don’t get me wrong:  All the material is still on safe and sound on the computer, and it still boots up and runs nicely.  I just can’t use the mouse pad.  Or the keyboard.  But, you know, aside from not being able to use the mouse pad or keyboard, everything’s working great. Sure, the 11 inch screen has a giant crack in it, but that’s been there for months, so that doesn’t count.

Anyways.

I’m going to give it one last go later on this week – trying to get my post off of it… and if that fails, I’m going to have to sit down and rewrite everything from scratch. The reason I’ve been so quiet lately is that I’ve been in the middle of a huge sulk about it.  I hate rewriting things – I really do. 

So here’s the post that was supposed to go live a week ago, and then hiccuped for some strange reason:

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Muggy, hot days melt into crisp, breezy nights.  Is it late summer?  Early fall?  The weather can’t seem to decide.  All around me the trees melt into autumn, green leaves slowly bleeding into red and gold.

Some trees don’t even bother going through the motions.  Hidden, here and there, are bare, spidery branches reaching up to the sky, their lonely trunk surrounded by greenish, fallen leaves. 

Summer is nearly over.

I’ve always wanted to live somewhere where there’s four seasons… and now I do.  It’s incredible – almost soul soothing.  There’s something peaceful in the gentle drift of one season to the next, but what I didn’t anticipate was the urgency I would feel.   

The rain is coming.  The rain is coming.  The rain is coming.

There’s nothing wrong with the rain, and life continues on just the same despite grey soggy weather, but frolicking with two children is just easier beneath the stare of a bright yellow sun. 

The rain is coming. 

The city feels like an animal before a storm – soaking up summer days and sunshine into its soul like a bear preparing for winter.  I find myself caught up in the urgency, running with the herd in a desperate effort to spend every dry moment outside before the grey envelopes once again.

I love the rain.  I’m not a big fan of the constant mud, but I am looking forward to the wind and rain.

Still.

This is the second summer in a row I’ve essentially abandoned this blog during the summer – I don’t know about you, but I think I see a pattern.

So.  What have I been up to in the month (plus) I’ve been quiet?

Writing.  I’ve been writing, writing, writing, WRITING.

And then writing some more.

At some point this summer, I realized that I needed to start making some money in the conceivable future.

I could either take on a full time job, working from home…. which would net us about $500-$600 a month after babysitting fees.

Or I could write.

So, I started writing.  And then writing.  And then I wrote some more.

Honestly, for as quiet as this blog has been you wouldn’t think I’ve been so busy, but I have been.  In fact, I’ve spent so many hours sitting on the couch, writing, that I’ve worn a Becky-butt depression in the cushion.

And if that doesn’t make you feel sexy, I don’t know what will.

I realized the other day that if I’m going to take this whole “career as an author” thing seriously, I ought to have a serious place to write.

So, in between The Bean never being home (it was accountant busy season back when I wrote that – he’s home on vacation now), taking care of the boys, the horse, the dog, the chickens, the cats, and everything else….

I decided to renovate an upstairs room into a writing/office/computer room.

I threw the extra bed into the boys’ toy room:

And then proceeded to spend a depressing amount of time choosing the perfect color paint.  I wanted something yellow – calm, bright, and clean.

I spent close to an hour gathering paint samples from several stores.

I then spent another hour choosing my favorites.

Then I went to Walmart and realized a can of paint was only $10 there, so I spent 45 minutes in the aisle, trying to select the best one. 

Mind you, that was 45 minutes with a DragonMonkey and a Squid in the cart…. I think the three of us were ready to eat each other by the time I finally made my selection.

I brought it home, opened it up, marveled at how perfect it was…..

And then put it on the wall.

I wanted yellow.

What I chose, instead, was YELLLOW!  OMG!  HI!  I’M YELLOW PAINT!

I tried to reconcile myself to it, but it wasn’t happening.

So the next morning, as the Bean was leaving for another 14 hour day at work, I begged him to stop by and pick me out a paint.

I know girls are supposed to be better at this sort of stuff, but, honestly, I suck at it.  Besides, The Bean has an uncanny, almost supernatural ability at picking out paint colors.

He spent less than 10 minutes at Walmart (and that included walking into the store and walking out), called me up, told me the color I wanted, and then headed out to work.

If I wasn’t so grateful I would have been annoyed. 

I spent all day painting, and by the next day I had myself an actual office. 

So now I have a writing office – like a gosh darned real writer.  It makes me feel a little smug.

Here’s the skinny on the other stuff that’s been going on in my life:

As far as Caspian is concerned – well, he’s as awesome and beautiful as ever.  He’s putting on weight and is getting very responsive under saddle. 

The boys are huge – can you believe Squid’s two and a half, and that DragonMonkey will be FIVE in less than a month?

Artemis turned one at the end of August- I plan on giving her her own post once I finish playing catch up.  She’s such an awesome dog.

Anyways, I know this is abrupt, but if I try to give this a fancy, pretty ending I’ll never get this off… and then I’ll never finish typing up the clinic, and then all of you guys will hunt me down with pitchforks.

Besides, the Bean’s on vacation right now, so we’re busy doing important stuff… like going down to the river, and stomping in mud puddles, and enjoying the local bowling alley.

 Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to clean the chicken coop…. because my life is awesome like that nowadays (five chickens, wonderful dog, loving husband, healthy kids, gorgeous horse, house in Oregon, burgeoning writing career…. don’t worry, though.  I’m still chubby, so you don’t have to hate me too much.)