Happy New Year Three Days Late

I bet you are all wondering what happened to my Christmas spectacular (which will now be coming in the form of "Thank You Notes" to all of my friends and family who helped me survive 2007), well, I lost it somewhere between the North Pole and searching for an off-duty Tooth Fairy and a computer that has been shutdown for a two week school vacation with my three oldest children.

Now that 2008 is here, I am ready without resolutions, but with a long to-do list. I am going to run 1800 miles this year, because last year it only took me about nine and a half months to run 1500 miles and then I quit for running for the last two and a half months of the year and I can see the residual effects. Hopefully, 1800 miles will keep me running the entire year! And the clock is ticking on my New York Times Bestseller, I only have ten more months before my self-imposed deadline is up. So in order to remain accountable on both tasks, I will be logging my mileage and my word count.

As for the first few days of this fresh New Year, my highlight was standing outside of what my husband and I refer to as the "dumpy" Ralph's on Del Prado in Dana Point with my arm in the trash receptacle fishing out the receipt my children got from the recycling station (which is the equivalent of cash), thanks to my eleven-year-old, who, inevitably blamed it on me for making her throw away car trash on her way into the store to get the money from the recycling receipt. Nothing like a mother, holding a twenty-month old in one arm and rooting through trash with the other outside of a supermarket. What could have been going through the minds of the onlookers as my other three children were standing next to me anxiously hoping I would find their recycling money? Thank God for my sense of humor and the Sanicart wipes outside the store. I am sure this is not a sign of the year ahead, at least I hope?

Happy New Year, three days late!