All I want these days is to be in bed by 8.

It's the craziest thing.

Is this a trend?

Have I finally become my mother? At least I finally understand her early-to-beds.

Is this just a pregnancy thing, or is this like, a permanent parent thing?

Inquiring woman on the brink of two children needs to know.

I would google it, but I have to go to sleep.

What it's Like to Come Home

I've been On the Road for so long that being home seems like a vacation from reality. My house is like an exotic vacation destination. One that, though it doesn't clean itself like the rooms I stay in when I'm at work, nevertheless is filled with wild extravagances like more than two rooms! and a kitchen! With a stove!  And a yard! And friends nearby!

Recovering from 7 weeks on the road is this long process, one that is taking much longer than I ever thought it would.  It seems that no amount of mindless zoning out to bad tv can fully recharge my severely depleted batteries.

Since we've been home I haven't just been zoning out to "One Life to Live." We've been working.  We did the play in Austin, which was a real treat.  There's no substitute for an Austin audience. Especially if you're in a play that's about both Asleep at the Wheel and the life of Bob Wills.  It was pretty spectacular.

And we've played gigs. They've also been good, but getting to them has been a bit of a drag. The baby bus is waiting patiently for us in California, so we've been using our minivan aka, the Navy, because, it's navy blue and we like the idea that when we're in it we're (cue the Village People) "In the Navy!" It's a good little car, but it had neither room to  walk around, nor does it have a bed, a fridge or a bathroom. Which means we stop a lot, and have to eat road food (bleh!). And there's no where to lay down!  Dude, how do people take car trips?  It's brutal!

One of the few pictures I've taken since we got back to Texas. Dave, Beverly and Lisel at the mini mart! 

So anywho, I'm back. Still weary, but what the hell!  I'm ready to roll again.  Expect to rock with me!

And just in case you forgot, signed pre-release copies of my new record "The Laziest Girl in Town" are available now! Just click below to order your today!

http://stores.freedomrecords.com/-strse-121/Elizabeth-McQueen--dsh--The/Detail.bok

Lest you think I was bragging...

Okay, so maybe yesterday I was bragging on my girl and my friend. But I think what I failed to convey, and maybe what I've been failing to convey in general in these posts lately, is how utterly astounded I am at the adaptability and coolness of my child and my close friend in the face of exhausting circumstances. Because make no mistake, this journey is exhausting. Utterly physically and emotionally exhausting.

I realized yesterday when catching up with an old friend from across the pond via email that I've kind of been avoiding talking about this in the blog. Because I want to be, you know, cool and upbeat and adventurous and all that. I don't want to be supermom exactly, just supermom-ish.

And then again I think, do I talk about the tired-making too much? I mean, I have referenced it a bunch. and I sure don't want to be redundant, but....

I'm exhausted y'all! And so is Dave. We're finally discovering what actual, real life, ongoing stress feels like. Our job before was relatively stress free. I know touring sounds rough to most people but seriously -- we were paid to hang out, sleep a lot, watch loads of tv, travel to new places and play music. We were being paid to extend our adolescence. The major stressors were mostly personal -- a result of constantly being with 10 other people. But mostly, pretty chill.





Now, now our lives are consumed with work. There's the constant problem solving and trip charting when we're home -- how do we get there, who wil watch the baby, how do we get home -- then when we're on the road there's the physical stressfullness of getting to and fro. Gone are the days of sleeping 14 hours between destinations (I did that on the regular!). It's been replaced by a life of intermitant road sleep, all night drives and early mornings every morning (the baby will wake at 7:30, no matter where she is!)

I've talked about this before right? Well, I still blow my own mind when I think about the then versus now.

Make no mistake, we're totally down for the work, because being with each other and the bean is amazing. She's totally worth it. Our relationship is totally worth it. We're clear on that!

But dude, we're tired! To the core. And after years (in Dave's case decades) of slackerdom, we're having to readjust everything and figure out strategies to deal with heretofore unexperienced stress.

So when my 9 month old daughter goes to her first huge rock fest and is so totally chill that when she get's overwhelmed she simply puts herself to sleep and then hangs on a six hour drive to a place she's never been and is totally happy the whole way there and then gets walked around a street fair and doesn't freak out, and then falls asleep easily on the bus...quite frankly I'm amazed, seeing as how I kind of want to freak out, or at least have a good cry.

And when my friend goes through the same day as me, and is willing to take care of my little bean in extreme circumstances (we didn't even have a hotel room y'all!), and never gets flustered or frustrated...well I'm in awe.





And I feel really, really, really lucky.