Very tired - hoping for coherency

I just finished my submission for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Community Columnist competition.

I've come up short in 2 of the last 3 years, skipping one year for good measure. I only found out about this year's event from my Dad on Friday. I balked at the short notice, noting that the deadline was today.

"I guess that means you won't do it, huh?" he said.

That innocent comment is the sole reason I wasted a Sunday night painfully pulling words out of the air. It just immediately annoyed the heck out of me and lit a fire in my belly.

I don't think I'll fare well. It just didn't 'flow' tonight, the construction was awkward, midway through one column my research proved faulty and I had to rework it back to the bare bones  . .

[I just deleted a few paragraphs of excuses and low-confidence ranting.]

We'll see, and hope for the best. Keep your fingers crossed.

* * *
A very good day with the kids Sunday, much better then the smooth surface/rough undertow the kids provided me on Saturday. A genuinely happy, fun day where I kept my patience intact and the kids were reasonably nice to each other. We spent a few hours helping my sister with a rummage sale, including running a lemonade stand and taking some batting practice (more on that later). Then later in the day with Lisa at work I took the kids, my goddaughter, and one of YaYa's friends [the neighbor's kid - not 'that' neighbor] swimming. Although Smiley tossed my glasses, flash drive, and watch in the pool on a lark, it was otherwise a great evening.

In between I took my bike and rode it to the post office and back, which made me very happy.

Ah, yes, one more thing. I twisted my ankle chasing after LuLu at the rummage. It hurt bad for awhile, then went away for hours before returning this evening with a vengeance.

Say what you will, these sorts of injuries never happened when I spent the day in a recliner eating bon-bons.