(no subject)

[olmue]

So the other day I wrote a one-sentence summary of each chapter of one book and cut them into homemade sticky notes and taped them on my wall. The idea is to see the whole book at once. Does that help the overall structure? Well, sort of. I can see where some arcs dwindle into nothing and others emerge out of nowhere. I think overall, it's depressing, actually. I'm trying to see which whole scenes/threads I can lop so I can add in the stuff I think I'll need to. On the other hand, I'd much rather just jump back into the new book I'm writing, and apply all I've been thinking of to whole cloth.

Unfortunately, I can't do that, either. If you ever plan to move to Germany and adopt my lifestyle, please, get a personal fitness trainer about a year beforehand. And maybe a personal secretary, too. Here's my day (and all of it is on foot): get two kids out the door to school. Get a third child out of bed and to kindergarten. Come home and get husband and fourth child and walk to a bank, a mile away, to sign numerous papers and give bizarre data (why is it necessary to know when a person's parents were married in order for a child to open a savings account?) so that our six-year-old can have a saving account. The bank, which is kind of the chainiest chain bank in this country, is doing this thing with son's class on savings. They all opened a savings account, and over the next year they'll have regular opportunities to drop money in their account. Okay, it's a nice idea. But a) we use a different bank, b) aside from small things like allowance, any real money our kid gets will be in dollars, not Euros, c) if he puts his allowance and tooth fairy money in the bank, he can't buy gum with it, which is disturbing to him, and d) I don't know how many times we've run to said bank to get them one more document. Passport copies--from both of us--a birth certificate of our child, etc. They wanted to know where our passports were issued. If you renew through the mail, the National Passport Authority does it. There IS no city listed, no matter how much a German beaurocrat wants to know!!

So that left me about an hour to run into town and try to buy a book and a backpack and a birthday present, and then come racing home again (all of this is on foot/with buses, have I mentioned that?) to pick up the kindergartener. The other kids came home, we had about an hour (during which one individual had a meltdown), then we had to go to a birthday party. My younger son's best friend invited both boys to his birthday. Our kids have had a hard time making friends this year, so even though we already had people invited for dinner tonight, and the two events cross over slightly, we are glad to facilitate the party-going. Of course, this meant bringing all four kids a mile away on foot. The boys were on scooters. Older daughter was on a bike. Younger daughter in stroller. Which meant--mom got to jog. (Note to self: regular strollers with high handles are not comfortable for running.) Some amount of dryerless laundry has had to go on today, too, running up and down between the basement and second floor, because oldest son has his week-long class trip on Monday, and will need to bring clothes. And it's been raining all week, which is spectacular for laundry. In just a bit I'll have to start this dinner, then either pick up the boys or send my husband when he gets home, and then entertain tonight. And tomorrow is the city children's festival, and our kids are going to be singing in that.

Yes, I know I'm whining, but I'm TIRED!

Comments

[robinellen.livejournal.com]

Wow...and when did you have time to do your writing? Boy, I'm so thankful for cars ;)

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, there's a reason it takes me four times as long to write a book as anyone else. Things are going very slowly at the moment.

Normally I'm okay without the car, but when schedules get tight, I find myself wanting something a little faster than my feet. It doesn't have to be a car. Apparition sounds nice.

[kporterbooks.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, Rose. I can't drive. But everything in Arkansas is a 20 mile walk. Maybe I should walk to the bank, hee hee. Haa haa...GASP...for...air.
Hope everything gets less chaotic this weekend.

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Hey, one time my mom's car needed work and we took it to the dealership and walked home afterwards. It was about a 5-mile hike. (Yes, this was in Arkansas.) It um, took a while.

You're right, at least the bank is within walking distance here.

[fabulousfrock.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I was exhausted nearly to tears a few times in NYC with all the running around!

But now I miss it...I'm home again and feeling like such a lazy bum, and when I got home I gained a couple pounds because now my Banana Republic dress pants don't fit right! Ick. I wish I had a way to get exercise just going places...also it would just be nice to be able to get somewhere on foot/bus. Everything is sooo sprawled out here and the buses are awful.

But...that isn't to say you shouldn't be exhausted right now! Feel free to whine. I guess there is no perfect system.

[olmue.livejournal.com]

You're in Florida, right? We lived in Charleston, SC for a couple years, and it was lovely, but it was So Not Set Up for pedestrians. (Downtown, sure, but out of the historic district, forget it.) We lived two blocks from our local library branch, and we had to drive. There was no sidewalk and no shoulder to the road, cars went down it lickety split, and the only other option was through high grass and thick sand, which the stroller wouldn't go through. It was frustrating to have nice weather and to not be able to walk anywhere.

[(Anonymous)]

We do have pretty nice sidewalks where I live, at least...but really, the only thing in walking distance is a hole-in-the-wall winghouse and an ice cream/sub shop. One time I decided to walk to the winghouse, which was, at the time, a bagel shop. I thought, oh, a walk and a bagel, how nice! But crossing the street was a terrifying prospect. I live off a pretty big, busy road, and people were constantly making turns at the intersection without really looking for pedestrians. People drive so scarily, they really don't watch out for people on foot or bicycles...because, really, there hardly ARE any. And of course, a lot of areas don't have good sidewalks. Only neighborhoods do so suburbanites can go jogging and walk their dogs, but around places you might actually want to go for a purpose, not so much. Even in downtown Orlando there is hardly anyone walking around! I hope I can move either to a larger city, or to a small town where things are close together.

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sometimes you just want to go around and picket for sidewalks! No-sidewalk communities are dangerous and annoying (and unhealthy!)

[debiwrites.livejournal.com]

Rose, I completely understand your whine, and I totally sympathise! I have to admit that just having a car available is soooo nice (even though I can count on one hand the number of times we've actually driven it).

Just remember that tomorrow is Saturday. Even if no one sleeps in, at least the morning (usually) doesn't have to be as structured as the rest of the week!

Have fun with the entertaining part!

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Mostly I'm okay, it's just when schedules combine against me. And I've noticed that although I'm not as um, skinny as I think I should be after all this, I'm at least in waaaaay better cardiac shape than I was a year ago. I don't even get out of breath when I have a backpack on and I'm running with the stroller. At least, as long as I don't go very far. :)

We don't have to be at city hall until quarter after noon tomorrow, so that's at least a little bit of sleeping in. I'm looking forward to it (and I hope the kids cooperate on the sleep bit)!

[ex-dotificu.livejournal.com]

Whew. I feel tired now.

you must be in great shape, though!

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm feeling pretty sore today!