Thumbs

I'm afraid I've been rather obsessed with my thumbnails lately. Somehow brain surgery created big bumps and dips in them.  I've always been a thumb-twiddler, but now I spend all day running one thumbnail up and down the other. Hopefully they grow out soon so I can get over this obsession.

Sledding

 

We took the kids sledding at the tubing hill today. We decided our kids aren't very tough, but we had fun

anyway.

No School Today?

Every day I go outside and watch Cannon run the block and a half to school.  Today I watched him until he was inside the school gates, and then I went back inside.  Boy was I surprised when Cannon came back in the door a few minutes later!  He announced that there was no school today, and sat down at the computer to play a game or two.

What?

After some closer questioning, I figured out that he must have arrived at the school seconds after all the other kids went inside, because there was no kids on the playground when get got there.  And then when he tried to go inside, the doors he usually uses were locked.  Sounds like conclusive evidence that school has been canceled, right?

He really didn't believe me that school really was being held and that he should go back and try another door.  So I had to walk him over (leaving Jennie in charge at home), and take him in the other doors.  He looked genuinely surprised to see his classroom full of kids. Which just goes to show that even with the best evidence to the contrary, you should still believe your mother.  Especially if you're five.

Celebrating Messy Hair

Who knew I would ever be happy about messy hair?  But I am, because your hair has to be longer than 1/4 inch to be messy!  My hair is growing!  I may someday have normal hair again.  Woohoo!
In fact, I pulled out a grey hair this morning (my only one, of course), and it seemed so long that I measured it.  It was 2 inches long!  Tomorrow it will have been 3 months since my surgery, when they buzzed my hair to 1/8",  and I already have a hair that is 2 inches long!  (Or at least I did before I pulled it out of my head.)

Sorting Pictures

I spent the whole afternoon on Friday sorting pictures.  I don't know how many years it has been since I went through and put them in albums, but it's a lot.  'Tis the season for organization projects, though, and this one really needed to be done.  I spent the whole afternoon sorting, then went to my parent's for dinner, and brought a box with me to sort while I was there. I still didn't finish, but I'm a whole lot closer!  I'm also going to need more photo albums.

Book Count

I know all of you have been waiting anxiously for the results of my book count. But I confess I've been reluctant to share, since I didn't quite make my goal. I was oh-so-close. But not quite there. On October 16, I finished my 60th book and was well ahead of schedule. But on October 19th everything fell apart, and I spent the next two months sleeping. Literally. I did very little else, including reading. In mid-December I woke up and started reading again, but it wasn't enough to catch me up. And so the grand total for 2009 was...

SIXTY-FOUR BOOKS

One less than last year, and two short of my goal. Darn it.
But now I want to hear how all of you did. Lisa? Sara? Katie? Anybody else? Let's hear it.
And in case you're curious, here's my list. (Yes, I realize there's too many Heyers on this list. Even the best of us get stuck in a rut sometimes. :)

Rumors - Godbersen
Westing Game - Raskin
Gone With the Wind - Mitchell
Gates of Zion - Thoens
Death of a Tsar - Marcum
Goose Girl - Hale
Lawn Boy - Paulsen
The Thief - Turner
Crown Duel - Smith
Our Sacred Honor - Carter
Magyk - Sage
Persian Pickle Club - Dallas
Running Out of Time - Haddix
Just Ella - Haddix
Persuasion - Austen
Midnighters - Westerfield
The Season - MacLean
Wish List - Colfer
Elijah of Buxton - Curtis
Blue Sword - McKinley
Weedflower - Kadohata
Posse of Princesses - Smith
The Wedding - Sparks
Spindle's End - McKinley
Squire's Tale - Morris
Safe-Keeper's Secret - Shinn
Zel - Napoli
Secrets - Devereaux
Prayers For Sale - Dallas
Times That Try Men's Souls - Carter
Around the World in 80 Days - Verne
Cotillion - Heyer
Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Aiken
When My Name was Keoko - Park
Faro's Daughter - Heyer
Arabella - Heyer
Leap of Faith - Steel
Double Identity - Haddix
Summers at Castle Auburn - Shinn
Book Thief - Zusak
DaVinci Code - Brown
These Old Shades - Heyer
Once Upon a Marigold - Ferris
Last Lecture - Pausch
Dragon Slippers - George
I Will Repay - Orczy
Frederica - Heyer
Masqueraders - Heyer
Chamber of Secrets - Rowling
Prisoner of Azkaban - Rowling
Decoy Princess - Cook
Fudge-a-Mania - Blume
Goblet of Fire - Rowling
Venetia - Heyer
Sylvester - Heyer
Order of the Phoenix - Rowling
Where Are You Now? - Clark
Grand Sophy - Heyer
Friday's Child - Heyer
Half-Blood Prince - Rowling
Black Sheep - Heyer
Beauvallet - Heyer
Inkheart - Funke
Hunger Games - Collins

Now, just because a book is listed here, doesn't mean it was a good book. Some of them were awful. But there were also some super-great ones that have become all-time favorites.

I don't know what my goal is for this next year. I'm tempted to limit myself instead of pushing for more. Surely there are other talents to explore? I don't know. We'll see.

And There You Have It

You know how it is when you haven't written in your journal for a year? Or two? And it becomes harder and harder to even think about because you think you're going to have to record a year or two of events? Pretty soon the journal is abandoned altogether. Until you have a great lesson on Journals, and you decide to try again. I gave a lesson on Journals once, and told them not to try and catch up. Give a very brief summary of how you got to this point, and then just write about today. And then keep writing about every day.

So that's what I'm going to do, because this blog has been abandoned so long it has become a burden. So here's what I've missed since Halloween:

Ben turned ten. All he wanted for his birthday was an old-fashioned egg beater. Funny boy. He got it and was thrilled.


We went and cut down a Christmas tree.


Jennie turned four. She wanted a My Little Pony Coloring Book. She's very into coloring lately.


Emily danced beautifully in her Christmas recital. (Robyn decided she would be far too busy to take dance this year.)


We got some new pajamas on Christmas Eve


And had a great Christmas day.Whew! There you go. Now I can start fresh and hopefully stay caught up this year.