Blog Challenge Day One: The View From Where I Write

Aaaand ... February has arrived.

I'm always singing Dar Williams' "February" in my head during this month, though its story about the crushing toll of a long winter - literally and metaphorically - is not applicable here in Australia. In fact, the weather of late has been so pleasant that we're not even having a soul crushing summer.

The line that always plays in my head is, "February was so long that it lasted into March" (forgive me, I've quoted that here before). This February may actually feel that long by the end, as we've officially begun the expat blog challenge. No complaints from me, however, as I did devise the whole idea.

In fact today, Day One, will likely prove my toughest day of blogging because it just so happened to fall on the same day as Hushpuppy's first birthday party. Though a casual affair, it was still one I have been throwing every ounce of excess energy into for the last month, ending in a buzzing hive of last minute cake baking, sandwich making, fruit cutting, and general gettin' together over the last 48 hours.

The party was rather the success, in my eyes. Hushpuppy was indifferent, and spent the majority of the party licking a block of ice. At one point, she made a break for it, and tried to join the other birthday party in the park, obviously sensing that they were having a better time. Or, that they had tastier ice than us.

The effect of the party on my home, however, has been rather less festive. And so it is that I tell you the whole truth when I tackle today's prompt, "the view from where I write."

Letting my toddler do a lot of wandering around the house over the last two days (supervised, but distractedly), she's wreaked a fair bit of havoc. A greatly preferred havoc-wreaking spot happens to be our bookshelf, from which she enjoys pulling down travel guides, religious texts, biographies, humor books, and literary masterpieces with little discrimination. I caught her yesterday turning my Complete Works of Shakespeare into an abridged version. So, to my immediate right, this is the view from where I write.

On the other side of the room, mocking me, are the party leftovers that beg to be put away. Wine, soda, beer. Boxes of leftover cookies, plastic plates, forks, and napkins. Scraps of colored paper, tape, glue and all the evidence of my insatiable Pinterest addiction. I laugh right back at this blemish on my home. Not tonight, you wretch!

Head foggy, feet sore, and covered in a thin layer of buttercream frosting, this is the view from where I write. This is the only view that matters to me this evening, as we leap into February, ready or not.