Busy, busy, and more busy!

Posted by Ceci on April 22, 2016 in General | 3 comments

To say this has been a busy week is an understatement. Unfortunately, this lovely blog hasn’t gotten the attention it needs. Well, sort of.  I’ve actually put together a scrumptious post about an out-of-this-world restaurant {yay!}, but I’m having trouble getting the pictures to load {boo!}, so it’s on hold for now. Hopefully you’ll see that one soon.

I’ve also been writing up a storm. I’ve branched out a little and you can now see some of my stuff in other places.

Staying Busy with MapQuest’s Parachute

In honor of Earth Day (today), I had a simple piece published on Parachute, MapQuest’s online travel magazine. You can read about how to celebrate Earth Day in Tucson here. The stories I write for Parachute usually highlight fun things to do in Tucson from various different angles. If you’re interested, click to find my other Parachute stories. And I hope, by the time you get to their site, my latest submission will also be published. They’re definitely keeping me busy, as I’ve got another story in the works for them.

Discovering Medium

Do you blog? Are you a writer? Even sometimes? Then get yourself over to Medium, and check it out. Medium offers a free platform where anyone can write. Post a blog post (even one you’ve already published), respond to stories you read, and follow publications, topics and people that interest you. What I love about Medium is that at the top of every story, it tells you how long it will take to read it. You can pick and choose what you read by the time you have, and if something really catches your eye and it’s longer than you have, you know you can always come back to it. It’s perfect for busy people! It’s also a clean platform, free of ads, which makes it a really nice reading experience.

One of my favorite places to read on Medium right now is the publication, The Coffeelicious. The editors note on their About page says,

Home to some of the best stories on medium. Look around, relax and enjoy one with a sip of coffee.

It’s like having your favorite magazine come to life on your computer screen. I love it so much, I decided to submit something I wrote for publication in The Coffeelicious, and they accepted it! It’s a personal piece that doesn’t quite fit on the blog, so I’m glad to have found it a home. And, it’s getting good feedback, which is good for my delicate writer’s ego. Read it here. I’m going to get busy writing more for The Coffeelicious and taking advantage of Medium’s platform and audience, so look for more in the future.

Keeping up with Life

So beyond lots of writing in other places, my family has kept me busy this week. The pets have created more work than usual for me with my particular favorite being the lake of cooking oil that greeted me Wednesday morning after taking my kids to school. Apparently the dog decided to open the door to the secondary pantry, somehow unscrew the lid to the 3 liter jug of canola oil and knock it over. Seriously, the doors were closed, and the lid was on when I left for school. Then the doors were open and the lid was removed from the jug, with no damage to it! Either we have a gremlin or my dog is smarter than I give him credit for.

Anyway, it was probably about a 3 ft x 5 ft area of the floor that was completely covered in oil. Painstakingly cleaned that up, then the dog started throwing up, apparently from consuming some of the oil and turning his insides into a slippery tummy ache. (If anyone has any tips on how to get copious amounts of oil out of cushions, please let me know!) The good news … the dog seems fine. The bad news … the clean-up still continues since getting grease out of anything requires constant vigilance and lots of repetition.

Meanwhile, my husband is away with our oldest and an out-of-town friend. So, I’ve also been flying solo as I’ve handled our home-grown Exxon Valdez oil spill, plus I fielded the electrician appointment, a trip to the vet and our ever-diligent, yet slightly annoying pool guy’s weekly need for human contact. All this and the normal weekly tasks of making sure everyone is fed, clothed and off to school on time. I even squeezed in some girl time with friends, which was lovely! Only one brief lapse in grace, when I lost it with my 7-year-old, makes me think I’m actually doing okay this week. Thankfully, the grandparents’ weekly school pick-up has been a great help.

So, it’s finally Friday. I’m seriously proud of the work I’ve done that has been published by someone other than me, and I promise, to the best of my ability, that I will post some great stuff on the blog next week. But it’s been a crazy – full moon kind of crazy – busy week. And since my in-laws are picking the kids up from school today, I’m off to clean the toilets, un-earth the kitchen counter and make the house presentable before my husband returns home with a house guest for the rest of the weekend. Wish me luck!

Have you had weeks like this? Please comment let me know I’m not alone! And share with others so they know they’re not alone either!