The Monkey Wrench

Have ever planned your day and then something goes awry? That in a nutshell, is my life.

The girls had ballet at 4 pm. They would be done by 6 pm, so I planned to bring the laptop to get some writing done while they were in class and then run to the ballfield to catch the boys' baseball games which began at 6:30 pm. Sounds simple enough.

Well, that was until my youngest daughter gets in the truck and announces says, "Ashley says we have communion practice tonight." WHAAAT? My oldest daughter then proceeds to add to this chaos by saying, "I need the book Because of Winn Dixie for reading class. I'm the only one who hasn't got their book yet." Well, this is the first time I've heard about her needing this book and even though her timing stunk big time I cannot refuse a book.

So I get home, make a few phone calls and sure enough - Ashley was right. Not only is there communion practice at 6:30, but I also have to bring a flowering plant to put on the altar.

I raced to ballet and dropped off the girls, then to the Harris Teeter (grocery store chain that we just call "The Teeter") because they have the only ATM belonging to my bank (I refuse to pay fees) for five miles. I have no cash because I blew it all this weekend to buy the boys candy at the concession stand at the ballpark just to shut them up (it didn't work by the way). Luckily the Harris Teeter is right next to the Home Depot so I ran inside and grab a flowering plant on sale.

Then it's off to Target to get that book for my oldest daughter. And then . . . Heaven! I hadn't been in this Target for ages and low and behold - A STARBUCKS! So I walked out with the book and a Venti Regular.

Okay, now back over to the ballet place where I acutally got a whole hour of writing done. As we speed over to the church, my youngest daughter is whining because she has to do practice in her ballet clothes. Now, I don't make my girls were fru-fru dance clothes - just a leotard in the appropriate color for their class and yoga pants. Get over it! Well she didn't, and ended up wearing my red fleece LL Bean jacket I keep in the truck just because of this unpredictable weather.

So there I sit in the pew with all the other proud moms. They reminisce about their first communion and how things were done in the church back in the day. Well, one of them asked me. I had no answer, so I just replied, "Hey, I was raised by organic communal hippies and this is all Greek to me." Well, yeah I wanted a reaction and yeah, I got it.

You know how when you were in school and the cool girls were mad at you. They had this covert way of moving in close-shouldered and squeezing you backwards to where you found yourself outside the group altogether? Well, some things never change, except this time I didn't cry.

My oldest son came home around 8:20 pm to announce, "I had the best game ever!" My hubby confirmed it. Gosh-darn-it-all! My youngest son trudged up the steps holding his stomach.

"What's the matter?" I asked him.

"My tummy hurts."

"Were you eating grass in the outfield again?"

"No, I played catcher and third base."

I tossed him a TUM and ran his bath. Anyhow I managed to finish issue 83.

Blood on an Appalachian Sunset Stats:

103 issues total (166,835 words)
83 issues completed (135,335 words)
20 issues to go (31,500 words)
Issues written since being "taken hostage" on 4/20/2005: 8
Words written since being "taken hostage" on 4/20/2005: 13,581
Total Days with no Writers Forums: 13
Estimated Completion Date: Week of 6/20/2005

I've been exceeding my goal word count of 1,500 words per issue and so I've been able to shave two issues off the end. I'm very happy about that.

I got two emails today from dear friends at my writers forums. To MJ and Terri, thanks for thinking of me and for the well wishes. They mean alot.

Well, the Income Tax Refund and my HP rebate check came in the mail yesterday, so it's off to the bank for me!

BK