this is it.

This picture pretty much summarizes winter and snow for us...

The temperature never gets truly cold until sometime in January - though freakish warm fronts have been known to occur this time of year. We never get any, truly, big accumulations. I think the first year we were in our house, we got a few inches of snow. Followed with some ice. And, that was "bad".

Truth be told, I don't mind the snow - but, I like it best around the holidays. But, it isn't until January that we see much - if any - of it; and, at that point, I can do without. When we've hit a third day in a row 0f 20-degree weather, I'm ready to wash my hands clean of the nonsense. Because, at the end of the day, 45-degrees for a daytime high in January isn't bad...and I can always wear my cute, puffer vest. ;-)

I am hoping to take those layout photos tomorrow. The weather promises for some sun {unless there's been a change in forecast from this morning - love that natural light for photos versus a flash!}. I'll hopefully be clicking and uploading away!

right now i'm...

trying to upload and organize quite a few photos that have been building up in my camera {does this process take anyone else forever and a day?}...

trying {and not doing too terribly well} to balance my book-club reading for the month and read the third installment of the Twilight series, Eclipse...

itching at my eyes {time to take the old contacts out and put on the glasses}...

thinking of the layouts i've been neglecting to take photos of and post...

making a mental list of what i need to pick up at Target this week {that list better make it to paper quick as i'm bound to lose it locked up in my scatter-brain}...

mad that i haven't finished wrapping up the care package i have to mail to a friend...

and, taking out a piece of paper because my to-do list just got too terribly long for me to remember...

Colds & books.

Two entirely unrelated topics, mind you, but pertinent to my life right now.

I will say I was amply forewarned during my second pregnancy that siblings will, without fail, pass colds back and forth. Holy smokes, no kidding.
I feel like my house has been riddled with runny noses, scratchy throats, sneezes, fevers, etc. since the start of preschool {i.e. the petrie dish}. Baby boy has been having a rough time with ear infections and the pain of teething. It's been interesting. We're all a bit tired and run-down. It's one of those times I wish I were super-human and able to be immune to these ailments, able to go non-stop and keep the house continually lysol-ed to immaculate perfection. But, nighttime falls and......so. do. I.

I also wish that it were about 75 degrees, sunny, humidity-free......because in the back of my mind, I'm not thinking about germs and colds when I think of those pleasant days. But, that's not going to happen either. For a while, at least.

And, now I get the scratchy throat. and the glassy eyes. Joy.

Now that you've gotten a picture of how life has been the past couple of months, on to the happier part - books!

I read as I have time - well, make time. Which I haven't really been doing with much success until a few months ago. I volunteered to head up the Book Club for my local Mom's Club. It eventually became an activity that is now outside my Mom's Club and I have a few regular members, which makes me happy. Happy because people are okay with getting together once every six weeks to discuss something we've read and enjoying themselves. Sure, we'll digress from the book and onto a topic loosely related to what we were talking about moments before......I mean, it's typical female ADD. We're mixing up the book genres a bit - and stories as well. A little fiction, sometimes serious subject matter, and occasional chick-lit thrown in for good measure.

Our next book is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I will admit that it's not a book I would've picked out - which is another reason why I like Book Club. It makes me go out on a limb and try something different. Everyone gets to offer their own book selections - and that's how we end up with a little from Column A, a little from Column B, so-to-speak.

Twilight, Pilot's Wife, and Water for Elephants are our next planned readings and in that order.

And, we're always looking for good suggestions. Any recommendations?
Pass them along......

I'm off to read a little, myself.

what is that......?

addictive quality to cheetos or cheese twists? i seriously have no will-power when it comes to those things.

potato chips - no problem. can limit myself to a couple.

french fries - can stop eating them in seconds flat, especially when they get cold.

but cheese twists? must forget the cheese twists. i have to hide those suckers and try to forget they exist in the pantry. =)

happy birthday to.....

my friend, lauren!
she's the ONLY one who still checks out this old blog every once and awhile and gave me kudos the other day for finally updating it after six months {*insert blush*}.
lauren - i hope you have a wonderful year full of success at your job and fun outside of worklife. may you balance it all! =)

happy + new

Happy 2009 to all!

The holidays always fly by so quickly. Is it horrible of me to say that I already miss the Christmas music and the happy glow of lights twinkling on the tree? I find this time a year a bit of a struggle. Case-in-point: My daughter cried when we explained to her that the Christmas tree had to come down today. At bedtime she begged, "Please bring my Christmas tree back!" {Although, 4 weeks out from purchasing a real evergreen, it had alread stopped taking in water and was starting to brown, lose needles and sag. How do you explain that to a toddler?}. We tried to explain as best as possible that the tree only stayed inside the house during the holidays; it had to go back outside to live, where it would get water and sunshine so we could bring it back inside next Christmas. Not really sure how convincing our argument was; but, it seemed to appease her - at least for the evening.

The holidays were good. Crazy busy, as most people experience, but good. I know I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon. The last half of the year was jammed with all sorts of good, new things and memorable events as well as some difficult, family passings that made the holidays a little sad this year.

On a more upbeat note, I am hoping, in this new year, to take some time to periodically update the blog - maybe give some new life to its current style. I still haven't figured out to magically tack on five hours to each day, so my blogging goals may be slow-going. I am still debating on making my blog a private one and may ultimately end up doing so.

Well, there will be more debating on that one.

Thanks for dropping by - hope you have a great, new year!