Somehow it’s the end of April. I don’t know how. This month has zipped by.

I won’t lie… it’s been a hectic month. Not of all it bad, not all of it good, but steady for the most part.

My spring cleaning bug has hit, and so I’m trying to get things clean and organized. Especially since I have barely a month before my birthday, and I’d really like to have people over without having to clean the entire house the week of.

I could potentially be an ‘aunt’ anytime. My best friend’s due date is in 10 days, so really… yeah. Anytime.

This week was harder on a personal front, in some ways. We finally found out how much the health insurance is going up, and while it’s not as much as many people have had to deal with, when you already have a tight budget… every penny counts. Our mortgage payment is also going up, because the stupid bank people can’t figure out the escrow. We went ahead and sold half the stocks we have with hubby’s company (we’d completely forgotten they’d given everyone stocks) to pay the escrow shortage, but I’m still waiting on that sale to be processed, and it’s frustrating.

And even after all of that, I’m still trying to find ways to cut expenses, because we can’t keep living paycheck to paycheck. If I could cancel the internet, I would, but I use it for too many things writing-related. We’ve canceled Netflix, and the only thing I can think to do is get a home phone line and ditch the cell phone – but my mom doesn’t like the thought of me driving around town without a phone. So I’m looking for some much-cheaper options.

I’m just… so tired of barely staying on top of things. I want to actually get ahead for once, and to be able to save extra for when we do have car repairs (which seems to be constantly these days), and to be able to get the french doors in the dining room and get a deck/back patio of some kind, so we don’t have to keep going out through the garage side door and around the house all the time.

We’ve go to get a new chicken coop & enclosure figured out, too. I’d really like a bigger enclosure, so I can get more chickens and potentially start selling eggs.

I’m supposed to go back to the doctor this month, too, and have my vitamin D rechecked… but I don’t have the money for copays. So oh well. What good is health insurance if I can’t use it?

And then there’s writing.

I don’t even want to look at my April #WriteMotivation goals. I’ve accomplished something toward each of them, but not finished any of them.

Camp NaNo has been a dismal failure so far. I’m not going to make my original goal, it’s not physically possible at this point.

A-Z was good – I’m glad I did it, but I still need to write my last three posts. And I did not keep up with visiting blogs like I needed to, though I have met several wonderful people so far that I’m excited to get to know further!

I read one book. Starting on a second. I’m so behind my Goodreads yearly challenge, but oh well! I may have to modify that goal as well.

I’m determined to make May a good month. I’m going to be 29. It’s springtime. There is no reason for me not to enjoy it, despite everything else.

So, for May #WriteMotivation goals are:

• Finish Camp NaNo Goals.

I’ll know exactly what these are come Thursday, because I’m going to get a bit more progress made on this Monday-Wednesday.

• Work on A-Zs of Worldbuilding workbook.

Because I think (hope) this can actually go somewhere…

• Read.

I need to read books, and this is the perfect time of year to lay outside and enjoy the weather with a good story.

I just really need to keep track of how much time I’m spending out in direct sunlight. because I have the wonkiest sunburn ever now from losing track of time in the hammock.

I hope your April has been successful! What are you doing in May?