Writing Fix

Forgive me Followers, for I have sinned... it has been seven days since my last blog post. 

My family went to Chicago for a few days for a family wedding.  While we were there we visited the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier and the Museum of Science and Industry... both for FREE!  Well, of course nothing is totally free.  We purchased a reciprocal pass at our local kids science center, The Ann Arbor Hands On Museum.  It was $100, which gets your entire family plus a caregiver and an extra adult into the museum every time you go for a year.  But the big benni- any of the reciprocating museums outside of a ninety mile radius from your house give you those exact same benefits!  We can get into hundreds of science centers and children's museums all over the country. 

So my quick tip of the day:  Before you go on vacation, check out your local science center's membership page.  You might find that for a little money up front, you have backup plans for rainy days in Florida AND a year's worth of day trips for your family.

Okay, back to life.  I finally got a good night's sleep.  Cha-ching.  I melted into the fluffy down guest bed at my dad's Monday night, and when I shut the lights out I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed.  It was sleep heaven.  I slept ten hours.  Ten blissful hours.

Which brings me back to the seven day blog hiatus.  Sleep deprivation can really mess with your brain.  I was staying up very late at night writing my blog because I didn't think I had the time or the willpower to do it during the day.  So, rather than permanently transform into the coffee-sucking, shaky, edgy, slightly foggy Mom-ster that I had temporarily become, I gave myself an inch.  In that inch was written these words:  "No-one is forcing you to write daily.  It was your own stipulation.  YOU can drop it.  You can take a break once in a while."  So I took that inch.

Then I took another and pretty soon an inch was a mile.  Or in this case, seven days.  And I've missed you.  I mean, I've missed it.  Writing, that is.  Writing is my meditation, my yoga, my prayer.  Or, for those of you who swing another way... writing is my Merlot, my vodka-tonic, my Miller Lite, my hit, my high, my momentary escape from the unending reality of my normal life.  So while I was taking this seven day playcation, I was jonesin' for my keyboard.

Posts ran through my mind at night as I was trying to fall asleep in a hotel bed next to my daughter... or rather, curled up and wedged half-under-half-beside my daughter with no blankets and a pillow that was not memory foam.  Words and ideas surfaced as I brushed my teeth and dried my hair and walked from the farm exhibit to the replica of the SS Chicago.

So, without further adieu, here are a few topics you can look forward to:  Underestimating one's children, staying connected to family, natural consequences and how to avoid the unenforceable consequence, car rides without hand-held games or DVDs, why my daughter went bonkers, high heels (are they really necessary?), and "Can you really learn anything in five hours at the largest museum in the Western hemisphere?"

Thanks for reading this slightly-off-topic post.  Now that I have gotten my fix and restored my sanity, I'll look forward to shedding some light on these topics over the next couple of days!

Oh, another thought... please throw out topic ideas for me!  I'd love to answer questions or write about something that might be piquing your interest... as long as it doesn't involve my underwear drawer.