Erica O'Rourke

You thought I was kidding about the eight squillion boxes, didn't you?

I would not kid about such things.

People, those boxes are only half the kitchen. And lest you think that's not so bad, remember: across town is an overflowing storage unit with my name on it. And my parents let us use their attic.The stack of boxes before you doesn't include my ice cream maker, food processor, waffle iron, the big coffee mugs, or any number of absolutely essential cooking items I have lived without for the past year.

It has been a long freaking year, is what I'm saying. It is really, insanely, indescribeably good to be home. 

The only fly in the ointment thus far is the fact that I have misplaced a bag of essentials. It is not lost, of course, just...misplaced. No doubt it will turn up immediately after I replace the contents, and not a moment before. Perhaps it's somewhere in that pile?

 

 

Box 7,8321 of Eight Squillion

I am not sure why, exactly, we have nunchucks in our garage. Certainly we have never been beset by ninjas and forced to deal with them on their own terms. I guess it's nice to know we can if we need to.

But they are packed now, ready to defend our family honor at the new house, which we'll be moving to in TWELVE DAYS. I've been a little busy, what with the packing of martial arts equipment and spare USB cables, and the frantic, frantic drafting of the new book.

I did, however, manage to put together a guest post over at GotYA, going live tomorrow (edit: it's live! it's live!), about the benefits of joining RWA if you write young adult. I'm not saying you HAVE to go check it out, of course. But the movers haven't loaded those nunchucks yet.

Kickoff

I am, as you may have noticed, quite a fan of lists. Grocery lists, to-do lists, books to read, craft projects to try. (So many inspiring craft blogs. So many shiny, shiny supplies. So little talent. So many Rubbermaid boxes filled with half-finished projects.) Absolutely no one here should be shocked to discover I have a list of plans and projects to keep me out of trouble this summer.

I also have three children, each with their own ideas about how to spend the summer, and who will cheerfully resort to mutiny in order to get what they want. Hence, I will be spending a good portion of my summer at the local pool, where "Party in the U.S.A." plays on heavy rotation. Here's the list of ways I'll be rewarding myself for putting up with Miley.

Summer To-Do's

1. Make the perfect fish taco. I am kind of setting myself up for failure here, because I've already eaten the perfect fish taco. In San Diego. But it's a lot cheaper to experiment here at home than it is to fly back to California. True, this is a goal which will require the consumption of staggering numbers of fish tacos, but I am willing to make such a sacrifice.

2. Learn to grill. Around here, there are three jobs reserved for my husband: scooping kitty litter, mowing the lawn, and grilling. I can prepare food for the grill -- marinate things, thread them on skewers, make up neat little foil packets of potatoes and olive oil and salt -- but cooking over an open flame? A job previously left to the menfolk, but no longer. This is the summer I learn to operate a charcoal grill. I was never that fond of my eyebrows, anyway.

3. 150 pages on the Roadside Marker book, my new project. Contrary to what Phineas and Ferb would lead you to believe, there are only 85 days of summer vacation. Which means that I'll need to write a perfectly manageable 2-ish pages each day to make this goal.

Sweet Jesus, I hate math.

4. Move. At the same time that I'm working faithfully on the roadside marker book, we'll be preparing to move, a dream I'd long ago given up hope of ever coming true. If everything goes according to plan (and how many zany caper movies have hinged on things doing EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of that?), we'll be moving at the end of August, two days after school resumes. All I need to do is pack up this house, find a new one, and move into it. I feel the need for another list.

5. Catch up on Tennant-era Doctor Who. I loved the Ninth Doctor. I am absolutely charmed by Eleven. But for reasons I'll explain some other time, I never watched David Tennant's Doctor, which means I missed out on the whole "farewell to Rose". There is a big, TARDIS-shaped hole in my life, and this summer, I will fix it.

So, what's on your must-do summer list?