Well, it's been an interesting week. Emotionally, I've had a bit of a roller-coaster ride this week. Hormonal fluctuations have come into play, making all the other things in my life a little harder to handle.

It's been a week of assessing and trying to clear my schedule so I can handle what remains with more success. It's been a week of friends telling me to be gentle on myself, which I have a hard time doing. It's been a week of puky and fighting kids, trying to understand the best ways to revise a story (and not always doing so graciously), and lots and lots of tears. (Mine.)

But, thankfully, it's also been a week of finding peace in my Father's arms. And building relationships. And learning about better dialogue and plot structure. And Mother's Day gifts from the heart. And hugs and kisses from my family. And a de-stress massage from my husband.

It's been a week where I have to be proactive about finding joy. But really, we all need to be a little proactive about that, don't we? Sometimes, we just need to try harder than others.

I haven't decided how much of a garden I am going to be able to manage this year. This weekend is the beginning of the "planting season" for Peace River gardeners. I am pondering sowing every patch of dirt I've got with potatoes and sunflowers--low-maintenance for high-output.

I considered it a victory when I finally got the chickens' outdoor waterer scrubbed up and in the run earlier this week. (My boys are thankful, too--winter watering means changing out a bucket twice a day.)

Another small victory is that I have actually managed a walk with Levi three out of the past four days.

One of the most exciting pieces of news I have had this week is that an article I submitted to the website Happier was published yesterday. Ironically, it was about ways to handle a "bad day". As I re-read the post this morning, I was glad to see that I was following most of my own advice. :-)

I am so thankful that bad days--and bad weeks--are temporary.

And that the "May-Long" weekend is nearly here.

Happy Friday, folks!