Six. Long. Weeks.
That's how long I've been away from this blog, which I consider my new baby.
(Hi. I'm Candace, and I'm a hesitant new blogger.)
I thought I was a confidently committed new blogger, but it turns out I've got insecurities and apparantly I procrastinate when I'm not feeling good about myself or have a lot of "life" going on.
Amid the onslaught of my responsibilities, I temporarily pushed aside how much I love this little place I'm creating on the internet. I'm determined not to let that happen again. (intentional breaks = refreshing; discouraged procrastination = no good)
So what's been going on besides not blogging?
The kids are wrapping up their first term of school. I'm really happy to realize that, so far, everyone is not just surviving but seems to be thriving. I wasn't sure how this season would go because this school year is looking very different for our family. It's the first time in about 8 years that I'm not homeschooling anyone. Last year I just had my youngest (4th grader) at home, but this year both he and I are joining the girls by "going" to school. (If you caught my September Goals post, this will sound familiar. It's still on the top of my mind, so I'm mentioning it again.)
While I'm always embarrased to admit this, I didn't get very far in college the first time around. I've taken some online courses over the last few years, but this fall you can find me on campus for the first time since I was a teenager. "Only" going part-time means that I'm on the slow road to graduation, though I'm technically a senior with a handful of classes left in my major. Unfortunately, I also still need most of the classes for my minor. Being back in school and looking down this path feels both daunting and exciting.
Apart from mothering and studying, the last month contained some in-house reconstruction. We built a wall to change a living area into a bedroom, and that project is FINALLY finishing up this weekend. Wall building, sanding, painting, new floor adding, light-fixture installing, final touch finishing has taken a lot longer than anticipated.
Of course I didn't personally *do* much of that, but I was a great errand runner and the dust/mess/general chaos is just draining across the board.
The cherry on top is that we just returned from a lovely family reunion/vacation, which was a Hawaiian cruise. (This is not typical... We were just lucky this year.) While actually BEING on the trip was great, GETTING READY seemed extra stressful since it included working ahead on school projects and early test taking. Let's just say I was glad to get on the plane and leave everything behind for a week of relaxation. And now I'm glad to be home so we can get back into a good routine before the snow falls and I want to hibernate.
For now, I've got a lot of fun things planned to talk about here over the coming weeks. My first baby is turning 15! I'll show you how I'm keeping dinner on the table by using an easy menu-planning system. I've read some great books I want to share with you, and I'll tell you about a new (music) artist I'm really loving. Also, I'm going to bid farewell to this season with some autumn-scented baking.
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