Ever feel like your life is moving faster than you are? Like the whole world is spinning and you are standing still just getting dizzy by association?

Welcome to my last few weeks.

NaNo came to a close and I passed yet again. Juan of the Dead now has over 65k. I am creeping towards the 70k mark for words! Yes, I’m very excited about this!

So what did I do first for December? I made a goal. Juan first draft: Done by Christmas. I expected more time to work on it, but life has a way of happening. But I promise myself (and you) that Juan of the Dead will be done by the close of this year. Huzzah!

And then will start the editing work. An organizational project for the new year. I want it done because I do want to publish it.

Next up on my to do list? Get things squared away post NaNo. I’ll admit it flat out. NaNo takes over all. I maintain the house, but I sure don’t go out of my way. Laundry? We dig for it. Come on, you know you do it from time to time, too. So I want to get all the laundry caught up and things straightened around in my home.

December comes with its own special set of items needing organizing. Where do you put the Christmas tree? Where do you put the stuff you move to fit the Christmas tree? Can you find your ornaments? When is cookie baking day? Who do you need to make cookies for? What about Christmas cards?

Joy for me? I moved this year. So I have to figure out how I want things done in this house. I decided I had a perfect wall just as you open the door for Christmas cards. (I love cards. Wanna send me one? HEHE Yes, shameless, I know!) I decided what corner upstairs I wanted the tree in. I need to find time to make cards, though I’m quickly running out of time! Holiday gift lists are planned while others have me stumped.

The end of NaNo leaves me exhausted yet accomplished. Since we take off for the Thanksgiving weekend, I get a little bit of a reprieve, though this time that took us right to the end of the month.

So I feel like I’m still catching up. Yikes! I’ve got laundry everywhere. I’ve moved the boxes from my utility room into our spare room since our exchange student moved out. That took quite a bit of my energy and time so I lost more productivity time there. The worst thing for me this year has been attempting to buy gifts. Is anyone else having this problem? It seems to me like I can’t find a whole lot of anything. Right now my kids have mostly video games and DVDs coming in. I did score four books, so that’s good. But what about toys? I really need to figure something out. And my husband? Forget him. I don’t even have a CLUE!

So here’s the 11th of December and I feel so scatterbrained and exhausted. Worse… my knee is acting up seriously bad this month. I can barely walk. Thankfully I have the two greatest helpers on the planet!!

So have I organized a whole lot after the insanity that has been life with moving, megaworking on Juan of the Dead, and dealing with an exchange student, let alone holiday prep?

I’d like to say yes. Some would probably say yes. In my eyes, not really. I have done OK. But I need to do better.

I think next Friday is cookie day. Yay! This Saturday is our church Christmas social and I’m taking Santa photos. My boys are dressing as elves! CUTE! I can’t wait to post the photo! I’ve got the majority of our shopping done, finally. I’ve got my trouble room nearly fixed up. My last remaining boxes are now situated where they are out of the way but will be easy to deal with this winter. My tree is up and so are the three Christmas cards we received thus far.

So I guess that’s pretty good. I just want for more.

I wish you all luck as you try to figure things out this holiday season. Hopefully you aren’t as scatter-brained as me!

–Lady O