It’s three a.m. and I’m…

It's three a.m. and I'm wide awake. I don't know why -- just stress, I think. This is a crazy weekend -- my plan was to finish writing Rasathi, run several hours of household errands, sew Halloween costumes for myself and Kevin, and grade 23 papers. (I do have three hours on Monday morning, in theory, so I could save some grading for then. But not too much.) I actually managed the first two yesterday -- we went to Great Indoors and bought the tile for the guest bath (that gorgeous Deco Silk Blanco), and went to an Indian grocery store nearby since we were out there and bought curry leaves and red samba rice and frozen palappam, and quite a bit more...

Oops, I don't think I said that loud enough.

I FINISHED MY BOOK!

I meant to send it out for crits yesterday, but I somehow managed (yet again) to forget to attach the attachment. So I guess it's just as well that I'm inexplicably awake at 3, since I was able to send it. Perhaps some folks will have time to look at it today and send me comments that I will somehow magically have time to incorporate before I send it to Bob Monday morning.

Of course, that deadline is entirely self-imposed. But I would really love to get it out. In part because I've been on a roll, and I am actually kind of tempted to dive right into book 2, Anjali's story. Possibly as part of NaNoWriMo, even, which starts tomorrow. Yes, full of the crazy. Heaping bucketloads of crazy here. Would you like some? I have plenty to spare. But the house decisions are really almost done, I think, and this is my last big pile of grading before the end of the semester, so life really ought to calm down any day now, and then all I will have to worry about is knitting and crocheting frenetically to finish twenty-one objects by Christmas...(I have four done, and two on the needles so far...)

Okay. Here's the plan for today. Send Pam a note with the dimensions for the damn medicine cabinets because she's been driving me crazy with her insistence that she needs to know the dimensions right now. Measure myself and at least pin out and possibly cut the fabric from my medieval gown. Be interrupted by Anand sometime around 4 when he wakes up screaming; give him milk and snuggles and hope to get him back down within half an hour. Try to go back to sleep for a few hours. If that fails, sew dress. (I don't think the sewing machine is noisy enough to wake him again...) Start tabards at some point (for me and Kev). Start grading. At 9, Adriana arrives for two hours; go out to a cafe to work if grading is not progressing well (sometimes it's hard to concentrate with kids around, even if I'm not on kid duty), and/or sew if that's not progressing well. If everything is going well, take an hour to swing by JoAnn Fabrics and buy peacock feathers to trim costumes. Consider whether I can plausibly invent decent-looking swords for me and Kev out of JoAnn supplies. Ditto crowns or circlets. Pipe cleaners wrapped in foil sound like they'll look terrible, right? Come back and keep sewing. Cloaks? It's going to be cold this afternoon when we're out trick-or-treating. Keep grading. At 3:30, stop everything. Wake children if they are sleeping and get them fed. Dress them in their costumes, melting at how adorably cute they are. Take them to Daniel and Anne's for 4:30 trick-or-treating, followed by dinner. Bless Daniel and Anne for saying we shouldn't bother to bring anything -- they have dinner covered. Come home and put the children to bed by 8. Collapse. Wake up and grade some more, because you know that grading won't actually get done today...

I forgot to put in write blog entry, but you guys probably figured that one out.

Hey.

I FINISHED MY BOOK!!!

I'm a little giddy.

Update:

4:30 -- medicine cabinet e-mail sent; dress pinned and cut.

8:45 -- dress sewn, a little tight but I can wriggle into it. Hopefully a tabard will be forgiving of the bulges. Tried to start tabard, but children woke up and were demanding. Oh well. Everyone's fed and dressed now, anyway.