It's been a while. I gave a passing thought to deleting my blogs since I've been too exhausted or too pressed for time to post in a while. But, I don't have the heart to delete them, and I will pick up again as a routine when the holidays are over.

Since my last post, I've been working at my regular job and I've been helping my husband with what has turned out to be a mega-project to earn some money for the holidays and our household.

He's been delivering telephone directories. That's right: phone books. I've been helping unwrap the bundles (8 white pages directories to a pack, 4 yellow pages directories to a pack) and putting the books into plastic bags. If I never see another phone book again, I will be thrilled. It isn't that I mind the work, it's just that the yellow pages are huge. They are heavy, bulky and difficult to lift, especially since I've had to do it with one hand when Jay's been out running his routes. I finally managed to roll them across the floor, which is no mean feat. I'm a mass of aching muscles, to say the least. We've had phone books stacked, in their bags and in bundles, from wall to wall in three rooms of our apartment at various times. It will end, I am promised, by next Monday.

We've also been preparing for Christmas: The tree is mostly decorated at long last, and some of the interior decorations are up. I'm not sure we're going to be entertaining many guests for Christmas, so we haven't done a lot of planning for menus, cooking and baking. That is unusual for me, but the phone books have zapped my time and sapped my energy. I don't know if I'm up for this again.

Never again will I take for it for granted when a new phone book appears on my doorstep. Now, I know what it takes for it to get there, you see...