The Lily Cafe at home: Back From Hiatus

Welcome into my home!

It’s good to see you again after 3 weeks away! I’m very glad I took that time because, even though my kids are getting older, they’re still kids and they still require a healthy amount of attention devoted to them. Considering adolescence is creeping closer for my older one, I’d rather divert my attention to them than to an online microcosm.

But, in those moments where my kids were quiet and, more or less, fully occupied (or using up all the printer paper to do copious amounts of painting), I spent some time thinking about what I want to do with my blog. I love reading, and I’ll always love reading, but The Lily Cafe has always been a reflection of me, and books are just one part of my life. I also still hate writing reviews, so…yeah.

Week One

So, week one of my hiatus saw our school district’s support employees go on a 3 day strike. Most schools were closed because the support staff went on strike and the teachers honored the picket line, so both of my kids were home and bored for 3 days. It rained the first two, so there wasn’t much we could do because I figured everything indoors was likely to be busy. They had some online resources they could work with, so I made them spend some time on those, and finishing up projects and homework packets. Otherwise I tried really hard to balance keeping them entertained and leaving them enough time to be bored.

The third day had some entertainment for us. Our local zoo offered free admission to all students affected by the closure, and I think half of the district decided to show up. I had never been in a line that long just to get tickets. I’m pretty sure it rivaled the lines for some Disneyland rides back when I was a kid, and some of those were 4-6 hour lines. Anyways, after 45 minutes of waiting and doing little more than turning a corner, we left, only to get stuck on the freeway on-ramp thanks to an accident just past the on-ramp. It was crazy to see cars turning around on the on-ramp, but all lanes here don’t usually get closed down for too long unless there’s something like a shooting, so we were moving past a half dozen or so car accident within twenty minutes. Only to encounter a two car accident closer to our new destination. I was glad to send the kids back to school the next day, and neither kid argued. I think they were more excited than I was.

Week Two

The second week was a short one. The kids only had school for 4 days, and two of those were shortened days. Between having just some morning hours and lots of chores to prepare for Spring Break, I didn’t really get much done. One of those days, though, was Open House, and it was great to get to see how the kids have been doing and to chat with the teachers. My older one was ready to go right away, but my younger one found some friends and I spent half the time chasing her down. I have to say, though, if my elementary school had a library like my kids’ school, I probably would never have left.

Week Three

This was Spring Break. We kicked it off with a busy weekend of family-related events and long drives, quickly followed by a trip to the DMV. The kids were…surprisingly good. I have no idea why. We filled the rest of the week with a trip back to the zoo, which very nicely tired out both kids; a play date for my daughter; a couple of days at home (I’ll definitely wait until my younger one is able to read to try teaching her how to play Clue again); and a day out at an arboretum with my mom and exploring science. And then of course the week was capped by Easter and less chocolate than last year because I was a little smarter this time. It was a fun week, but now it’s time to clean the floors and try to put things back in order, so I won’t properly be back to reading blogs until tomorrow because I just can’t take this chaos anymore and need to spend some time sorting things out.

That Writing Update

So, thanks to drastically reduced time to do anything all month (so glad March is over because it started off with bad news piled on bad news followed by me getting sick for a week and then heading right into Weeks One and Two), I reduced the number of works I’m working on from 3 to 1. Right now, I have put my baking fantasy on hold, mostly because I keep losing the binder I have it in. But I did finish the reverse outline for Raven, only to discover an answer to one question raised another, and that sequence is never ending right now. Coming Home, my magical realism-women’s fiction-romance story, is progressing very nicely, though. I created a new outline, and am really excited about all the magic I get to weave into it, and am working my way towards finishing the first chapter.

On a related note, I have something I’ll be introducing tonight (Pacific Standard Time) that I hope will be fun. For the past few years I’ve posted first drafts, but haven’t done that yet this year. I plan on changing that starting tonight, with a bit of a twist.

Blog Changes?

Considering my whole hiatus was really busy and spent focused on my kids, I only really know that the way I’m doing things isn’t quite working for me anymore. But what else is new? There are a couple of things I’m feeling like I’m having a hard time letting go of, but I also feel like it’s time to evolve the book part of this blog. There are other book-related things I’m thinking about that have me excited, so I’m working on getting some of that written out to gauge how I actually feel about doing it long-term. I probably won’t announce any changes; I’ll just do them. And then I’ll go from there.

Until next time!