This is Real Life

Hello, my name is Tara....you may have forgotten me in the past year that I have been away from blogging.

Infinite apologies to anyone who was actually reading my blog!  My only excuse is that working full time and trying to be the world's best mom to my now-toddler has taken up more time than I ever could have anticipated.  I guess it's time to play catch up and fill you in on what has been happening in my so called life!

I remember thinking when Elena (my daughter) was a few months old that parenting was so hard and I coudn't imagine it being any harder. Boy oh boy, was I wrong! I now have a walking/running, hands-into-everything, talking little girl who absolutely demands my attention every minute that we are together at home.  I literally can't even go to the bathroom by myself, as crazy as that sounds.  I feel like I say the word "no" at least a hundred times a day, and it's no wonder that "no" is Elena's favorite word (alongside "mine").  There is no down time when you are a parent, unless you are one of those lucky people who live close to relatives and can drop your kid off when you need a break.  Alas! I am not one of those lucky people.  To make things harder, both my husband and I work full time, on alternating shifts.  Parenting is HARD.  Okay, okay, I feel like I may be whining a bit, so let's move on.  As I mentioned, I am working full time, so Elena goes to daycare five days a week while I trudge away at work, nine hours a day.  Work is work, and that's all I'll say on that subject matter.  Buster has a job at factory in a nearby town.  The pay is good, but the hours aren't that great.  We don't see each other that often.  We are hoping that will change soon, as he is trying to get a job in a different department at that company, with same pay but better hours for our schedules.  He should find out today about the job, so cross your fingers and send up a prayer for us!

You may be wondering, based on my blog description, if I have made any progress with my writing.  A few months ago I had an idea for a book I felt like I just needed to write.  So for a few weeks, I devoted my lunch break to working on this book, carefully writing out character descriptions and a tentative plot line.  After I had satisfied my need for organization, I began writing on my fledgling novel.  I was doing very well, writing a few pages every day.  I'm really not sure what happened and why I stopped, because it was all flowing from pen to paper so easily, and it sounded good.  I keep telling myself to pick it back up, but excuses seem to appear so suddenly and I push it aside.  Maybe now that I'm blogging again, I'll start working on my book again.  I can just hear my characters crying because their stories are unfinished and I've seemingly abandoned them! I am so cruel...

Anyway, this is my life as of now- busy, loud, TIRING, and all together bonkers.  In between all that, though, is an incredible beauty that is sometimes indescribable (although, I'll do my best to describe it to you), laughter, silliness, and sometimes sadness.  If you want to be a part of all that, then I invite you to come back each day and read about my journey.  I'd be happy to share it with y'all :)