A few weeks have flown by with nary a post from me and I hope you’ll forgive me for that.  Last year, I was full of tips for holiday sanity savers and this year, I almost lost my sanity!  As you may know, we moved at the end of October — and, it really threw me for a loop!  Then there was Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy that thankfully had minimal impact on us but nonetheless, caused some major disruptions and additional chaos.   Then I had a few business trips which, while a welcome excuse for a full night’s sleep, always seem to put things in a tailspin at home.  Suddenly, it was the week before Christmas and not a present was purchased, not a gift was wrapped and the cookies that had been baked had all been eaten!  To top things off, between Thanksgiving and, well, yesterday, we consistently had at least one of our five children home sick from school.  It hasn’t been easy.  But I’m not sharing this to create a pity party, I’m sharing so you understand why in the midst of it all, I had to focus more on our family and less on my writing and sharing our escapades.  And, needless to say, there were few escapades worth sharing during the past few snot-infused weeks!

Ok, so, now what?  I have to say, things are looking up.  We had a wonderful Christmas and a new year always reboots my engine.  I’m filled with hope and optimism for the year that lies ahead.  I’m relishing the warm, fuzzy memories of my time off with the kids over the holidays and I’m (somewhat!) rested after a break from work. So what’s the plan now?  I hope to get back into the routine of sharing Tuesday Tips (or Quips!) on a weekly basis and look forward to continuing to contribute routinely to The Huffington Post and Moonfrye — I hope you’ll come visit me there if you haven’t already!

If you have ideas on “tips and quips” you’d like me to share, please let me know and in the meantime, I hope you’ll continue to follow the adventures of the Lyons Den and hopefully, look forward to a weekly post from yours truly.  I also hope your new year is off to a good start and filled with love, laughter, hope, health, happiness and humor!

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