Benign Neglect

Your Nesting Ground Mistress is guilty of neglecting her blog; she has been a terrible mistress. But her reasons for doing so are legitimate. You may judge:

1) I finished a story. Let me repeat: I FINISHED A STORY. Since this occurs about as often as leap year, I'm pretty much dancing in my seat, here. I'm not sure what accounted for this sudden and mad desire to reach the end of the thing, but I am not one to argue with literary urges of any kind.

2) My brothers and teenage nephews were here! Very strange to have the delicate balance of my household tipped into The Land of Testosterone. Even stranger to see giant pairs of shoes hovering near the closet. Now they're gone, and I'm melancholy. My youngest nephew, Malakai, is a fan of my green beans (that sounds nonsensical, but not when you stop to consider that I toss them with fried garlic and sprinkle them with Maggi). I made some last night, and I was sad he wasn't here to eat them all up.

3) I was busy making like a steamroller—a STEAM. FREAKING. ROLLER, people!—and was successful in snagging my adored mother an appointment at Stanford Medical Center's esteemed Neurology Clinic. I'm happy to report that our first visit was like something out of a dream, and she is now a patient of a fine, fine, super-fine neurologist who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment, and clinical research of multiple sclerosis.

* strikes the Rocky Balboa at the top of the steps pose *

4) Softball. Someone save me, already. The girls have moved up an age bracket, and the games are NINETY MINUTES long. They practice 2x a week, also for ninety minutes each time. I know there are families who are used to this type of thing. Families where the kids have to swim every day or get to the gym every day or whatnot, but we are not one of those very impressive families. And so this is not so fun. Adding to the bad news: the fact that I almost single-handedly burned down the snack shack last year has not saved me from the odious task of having to work there for 2 shifts this season.

There are other tiny reasons, reasons which when bundled together add up to a whole bunch of time, but when taken individually sound quite ridiculous. Having to teach a lesson in Chinese landscape painting—of which I know nothing, mind you—to forty third graders, for example. Or sorting through wardrobe choices for next month's trip. Oh, but here's a good one:

5) Little baby writers! Most of my school volunteer time is spent tutoring struggling readers or writers, but beginning this Thursday I have the sweet pleasure of running a little workshop for...glorious! glorious!...a group of six strong writers. I've been finding some fun stuff in the 826 Quarterly's Don't Forget to Write, as well as at the Teachers & Writers Collaborative website. Fun, fun!