I just wanted to let you know … all three of you who are still reading here … that I’m back from New York!

I didn’t want to blog about this before I left because I didn’t want to announce to the world that I’d be away from my home for a few days (although I did have an awesome housesitter and we have a mighty mean watch dog).

Today I’m running around frantically trying to catch up my laundry, mail sorting, and other duties during the precious few hours the kids are at school. My house is mysteriously immaculate thanks to the aforementioned housesitter/babysitter who is the only person in the world I wouldn’t get mad at for cleaning out my refrigerator (thanks, Mom).

Meanwhile, I thought I was making some amazing progress, and I let the baby (22 months) play quietly ALONE upstairs. Aw, she’s growing up, I thought to myself. I called out her name every 3-4 minutes, and she’d respond back to me, proving she was OK.

Mistake. How could I have forgotten Rule #1 of Mothering? Never leave a young child unattended. A quiet one- or two-year-old left alone for even a minute spells disaster. Today, it was in the form of purple magic marker all over my six-year-old’s pretty floral comforter. *sigh* My to-do list just grew.

Thus, the need to come blog my woes. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll be able to sort out some insights to share with you what it’s like to spend four days with over a thousand other children’s book writers and illustrators in the center of the publishing world, New York City.