Books I've read...part 1

I think I'd like to log here the books I've read with a short one sentence description.  Then I could reference it when people ask me for book recommendations.  Or just send them here.  ;)

I wrote a list in August, so I guess I'll pick up from where I left off there.  Then I'll try to remember to do this a few times a year.

1. The Gift of Rain, Tan Twan Eng   A boy from Penang is torn between loyalties to his white family (he is mixed) and his Japanese sensei when Japan takes over his country during WWII.  It was...meh.  Beautifully written, but it was almost like the author was trying too hard to make it deep and thoughtful.
2. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn.  If you haven't read this you should.  A man's wife goes missing and he is the primary suspect.  Full of twists and turns, the characters and plot in this book are twisted and unpredictable.  A very fun read.
3. Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner.  A historian delves into his grandparents' history in the newly settled west through his grandma's letters.  Narrative switches back and forth from the grandson in the present to the grandmother.
4. Lone Wolf, Jodi Picoult.  A brother and sister fight over whether to take their dad off life support after a car accident puts him in a coma.  In classic Picoult style, there is courtroom drama and the characters take turns telling the story...including the voice of the father through his books.  Lots of interesting facts about wolves, since he studied wolves and even lived with them for a bit.
5. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides.  Probably one of my favorite books this year.  It is the story of a hermaphrodite who is raised as a girl until the age of 15.  But it is so much more than that.  A richly layered story going back 3 generations and in the process showing where the mutation in his genes came from.  Very very well written.
6. The Violets of March, Sarah Jio.  A woman finds a diary at her aunt's house and discovers secrets from her family's past along with weird parallels to her own life.  Kind of boring and not well written.
7. 12.21, Dustin Thomason.  An epidemic linked to the ancient Mayans occurs on 12-21-12.  A doctor and Mayan scholar race to find a cure.  This was fun to read right before the actual end of the Mayan calendar.
8. We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver.  In letters written to her husband, a woman tells her life story as well as her son's...trying to understand what went wrong to make her son kill 11 people in a school rampage.  Very timely, now.  
9. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving.  Boy tells the story of himself and his friend who is an instrument of God.  I had a really hard time getting through this one.
10. Crow Lake, Mary Lawson.  Story of 4 orphaned siblings and their small, isolated Canadian town that helps to raise them and keep them from getting split up.  Story is told in flashbacks when the girl comes back to the town for Christmas as an adult.
11. The 19th Wife, David Ebershoff.  Two stories told in juxtaposition...Brigham Young's 19th wife's story from the 1800s and a present day 19th wife accused of killing her husband while her son who was kicked out of the cult tries to prove she didn't do it.
12. The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  A girl raised in foster homes learns to live life emancipated and speaks her emotions through the language of flowers and their Victorian meanings.  Lots of flashbacks to the foster mother who taught her about flowers.  I read this for book club, and I liked it more than I thought I would.  Still not one of my favorites, though.
13. The Boy in the Suitcase, Lene Kaaberbol.  A woman receives a phone call to retrieve a suitcase and finds a boy trapped inside.  A thriller as she is hunted for having the suitcase and tries to find out who he belongs to.
14. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce.  A man in his 60s gets a letter from an old friend who is dying and decides to hand deliver a response...and ends up walking 600 miles to do so.  The story is about his evaluating his life and the people he meets along his journey.
15. The Twelve, Justin Cronin.  This is the sequel to The Passage.  If you liked the first book, you will really like the second.  I felt like he tied up a lot of things that were left hanging, and took us on another adventure...not quite as wild and confusing as the first book's.
16. The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes.  This won awards and stuff.  I really couldn't get into it.  The first part is about this man's childhood friends...and then it flashes to the present when he reconnects with some of them.  Ugh.  Full of philosophical drivel.  Unless you LIKE philosophy.
17. 11/22/63, Stephen King.  This is King at his finest.  This is another of my favorite books this year.  A man from 2011 travels back in time to 1958 through a rabbit hole and decides to try and prevent the Kennedy assassination   And there are layers upon layers to that story as he lives in the past leading up to the assassination.  It is richly layered and full of interesting fun things about the late 50s that make it feel very authentic.  I really recommend this one.
18. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood.  Tale of a future society where fertile women are kept as slaves to propagate the species.  Really weird and a rather unsatisfying ending.
19. The Children of Men, PD James.  In an attempt to get a better ending to a similar idea, I read this book after #18.  Humankind cannot reproduce and society changes as the population ages.  The cousin of the head leader of England is drawn into a rebellion group.  A better ending, but not as well written.
20. The Roots of the Olive Tree, Courtney Miller Santo  This is the story of 5 generations of women who are being researched for their longevity genes.  As the geneticist finds out those secrets, we find out the secrets in each woman's past.  A very satisfying chick book.  I liked it quite a bit.
21. Ape House, Sara Gruen  A bonobo ape sanctuary gets bombed and the apes are sold to an unknown buyer after their handler is harmed in the blast.  She teams up with a reporter to find them and get them back.  This is full of interesting facts about bonobos and well written.  But I didn't find the ending as satisfying as her other book, Like Water for Elephants.
22. This Year It Will Be Different, Maeve Binchy.  A collection of short stories about families at Christmas.  Very typically Maeve Binchy, so if you like her stuff, you will likely like this book.

I'm finishing off the year reading Winter of the World, by Ken Follett.  I just tried The Satanic Verses, because I was curious and it sounded interesting...but I just couldn't get into it.  I'm getting better about putting down books I really am struggling with...but I feel like I need to keep a separate list of those so that I don't just keep re-reading the same books I don't like!

What now?

The car is totally packed.  We have eaten all the leftovers and extra food and finished the last of the milk so that none will be left behind.  Our dog has been sent ahead to Ohio with the Grandparents so that she doesn't terrorize my sister's bunnies when we arrive this evening.

We watch the weather channel.   Our trip is marked almost perfectly on the map!  Except it is marked by a pink stripe of ice/snow/dangerous winds in the mountains.

Oops.

Looks like we'll be delayed a day.

Anyone have any extra milk?

One more year of Christmas magic

Ah.  Another successful, wonderful Christmas.

First, it snowed last night.  Just a touch.  Just a magical little dusting to make it feel like Christmas.  "Let It Snow" was on it the car, and Lily listened for a minute and then gasped and said, "It's just like tonight!  Let it SNOW!"  We went to church last night, and all 3 kids sang in the children's choir.  Then they stood in the live nativity scene while the Christmas story was read from the Bible.  And when they returned to us, they darkened the church, passed around a flame (we each had a candle),and we sang Christmas carols by candlelight.

Michael fell asleep on the 3 minute car ride home.  We woke him up so he could pick out a cookie for Santa.  Andrew went outside to spread the reindeer food that he and Michael had brought home from school.  Lily wrote a note (shocker) to Santa.  "TO SATA  I LOVE YOU"  Andrew wrote a novel about being good and taking care of the reindeer, etc etc.  They all went to bed easily (it was way past their bedtimes).  We made sure to tell them all that they could come get us at 6 (as if), but if they woke Grandma and Grandpa up before that, there would be a penalty, and we wouldn't open gifts until 7.

I went and played in the bell choir for the 11pm service.  I ditched early to try and catch some shut-eye before the kiddos woke up.

Fast forward (but not much) to 5:30am.  We hear Andrew open his door and stumble downstairs...as quiet as a herd of elephants.  He comes barreling back up and barges into our bedroom saying, "I don't care about the penalty, I'll take the penalty, I GOT A HAMSTER FOR CHRISTMAS!!!  SANTA BROUGHT ME A HAMSTER!!!"  Michael and Lily got up right about then (I can't imagine how they knew Andrew was awake), and we proceeded to stall in our bed for a few minutes.  We got Grandma and Grandpa up and started the present opening.

We succeeded in taking turns opening gifts, and the kids were all super excited to watch each other open gifts...although not as excited as opening their own, of course.  They got lots of loot and were totally spoiled, although I'd say Lily kind of got the raw end of the deal.  All she asked for from Santa was a Fijit...so she got it, but it is totally stupid and a waste of time.  So bummer for her.  Maybe next year she'll ask for something cool instead of some dumb robot toy.  :)

I was spoiled rotten...Jeff got me a trip to California to visit my friend Pamela in May...they plotted together to pick a good time and it's all booked and ready to go.  My in-laws got me another Kindle...the new paperwhite one.  You know, because my Fire is stolen by my kids all the time and doesn't work outside or in the glare of the car.  How ridiculous is that?  But I'm not returning it, and I love it so much. :)  And my Kindles talk to each other, so if I'm reading a book, it will always be on the right page, no matter which device I last read on.  Cool.  And my in-laws got Jeff and I tickets to see our favorite comedian...babysitting included.  Plus I got sweaters and workout clothes and blueberry tea (that Michael picked out).

Jeff got 3 cans of pumpkin from Michael (because Daddy likes to make pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread and pumpkin pancakes), a pair of fleece pajama pants with footballs on it from Lily (because he likes to stay warm and he likes football), and Andrew got Jeff lots of Kcup varieties for his morning coffee.  Jeff got expensive gifts and then put the kids names on it.  Cheater.  I call cheating!  He got himself a new iPod touch and I got him a computer bag a few weeks ago, when I thought he was going to France.  Cheater.

It was lovely.  It is 2pm, and the kids are all still in their pj's.  They have been candy grazing all day and getting along, sharing all their new toys very graciously with each other.  It's lovely.  Just wonderfully lovely.

Tomorrow we are supposed to drive to Ohio.  But it's supposed to freezing rain in the mountains.  And then snow and be very windy.  -sigh-

It's Christmas Eve!

Ah, yes.  Christmas Eve.  When anticipation is at its highest and there is nowhere to go and nothing to do and nothing new to play with yet.  This year I was smart and planned some activities for us.  A gingerbread house that actually worked out.  Another batch of cookies to bake...but Jeff ended up doing most of it.  He's a darn good baker.

Now the little ones are playing with Grandma's iPad, and Andrew is watching a taped UD basketball game with his dad, and Grandma and Grandpa are "watching" with them (read: sleeping sitting up on the couch).  I have a roast in the crock pot for dinner, and a chicken and broccoli quiche cooking for lunch.  All the presents are wrapped and ready to go, and I am SO EXCITED to see their faces when they open some of these gifts.  Spoiler alert:  Andrew is getting a dwarf hamster.  OMG.

Anyhoo.  I'll kill some time with funny Michael stories.

Lately, everything that pokes him or bruises him is "Sharping" him.  As in, "Mommy, I fell down and this block sharped me in the eye."  It is very cute.  Jeff and I have taken to using that new verb in our own speech.  As in, "You sharped me when you spilled milk all over the counter."

Yesterday we took the grandparents and kiddos to a local shopping village.  It has been built to look all old-timey and has lots of unique shops.  At Christmas time, the put lights on EVERYTHING, and cook apple cider on a cauldron in the center green...and it is very magical and nice.  We were popping in and out of stores and running through light tunnels, etc etc.  At one point, Lily, Andrew, and I were in a shop entirely devoted to dog and cat stuff (think pads of paper with dogs on them, costumes for dogs, gourmet dog treats, stuffed dogs, etc etc).  Jeff was outside with Michael, and watched as Michael walked into the shop next door...a woman's clothing store that is apparently owned by a non-Christian.  It is very nice inside, but there was not a Christmas decoration anywhere.  Michael did a loop inside the store, and then stormed out.  He went over to Jeff and said disgustedly, "That place HATES Christmas."  Jeff said the expression on his face was priceless.

That's all for now.  I can't wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow morning!  Yippee!

Off to school they went...

I am a very logical person.  I logically know that evil can appear any time, any place.  That being at school is the 2nd safest place for my children.  I mean...if a shooter appeared at the grocery store while I was shopping with them, I'm pretty sure I would be the only one trying to shield and protect my children.  While they are at school, every single adult present would do everything in their power to keep them safe.

I know this logically.  And so I was not afraid to send my children to school yesterday.  I spoke with Andrew and Lily about it before school, assuming that they would hear about it from other students.  I stressed that I felt their school was safe and they should feel safe there also.  I stressed that if they were to learn anything from this tragedy, it is to listen to your teachers, and always do what they tell you...even if it seems really strange at the time (like climb into this cabinet and stay quiet).  Trust your teachers.  They love you.  Trust your school.  They want to protect you.

And then I took them to school, because Monday is cello day, and Andrew hates maneuvering that monster on and off the bus.  (side note:  encourage your child to pick violin, not cello).   And I smiled and kissed Andrew as he waltzed into school.

And then I drove away choking back tears.

WHY?

No amount of logic can quell all of that Momma Bear instinct.  Even though I logically knew school is safe...I wanted my baby bear where I could see him.  Touch him.  Hug him close.  Throw my body in front of his to save him.

I shoved it down pretty quick.  Logic took over.  I refuse to live in fear.

And when I picked him up yesterday afternoon, he practically shouted, "I had a GREAT day at school today.  My cello teachers said..."  all the while Lily was chirping about her new sight word and how they got to finished their movie from Friday and...

I'm glad they went to school.  And I am so so so grateful to their amazing teachers who made it a fun and wonderful December day of school for them.  Just like normal.

Photo dump...backwards!

So I'm dumping photos from my camera on here today.  Unfortunately, I put the pictures on like the old Blogger used to do it...backwards.  So let's go back in time, shall we?

This morning.  Everyone is singing in the children's choir at church today, so they actually cleaned themselves up.  We decided to take Christmas card pictures, even though we are not sending out Christmas cards.  

They basically alternated who had crazy or sleepy eyes.

A few days ago.  Vacuuming with his monster hat on.  It was a party favor at a birthday party we went to last week.  He loves it and wore it for about 2 days straight.

 Lily writing one of her countless notes.  I had to document it.  Also?  The crazy morning hair.  

(not pictured: rats nest on the back of her head)

 Last Sunday we decorated cookies.  It was actually fun!  No one cried that they couldn't eat every cookie they decorated.  No one fought over sprinkles or icing.  It almost makes me want to do this more often.  Almost.

 This is where Shadow sleeps.  In the kids' play house with the pillow pets.  She blends in...kind of like ET in that one scene.  Very cute.

 This girl loves her dog.  Her dog doesn't love her Christmas sweater quite as much.  Especially when it's been 50 degrees for most of the Christmas season this year.

 Andrew opening his gifts.  With the vultures watching on.

 Andrew thanking Lily for her gift.  Isn't he gentle and sweet about it?

 Sweet mother.  We're going to light the house on fire with all those candles!

 A few weeks ago.  Just trying to capture Andrew and Lily in a sweet moment...reading Garfield together.

 While Jeff played Lego's with Mike.  On the kitchen floor.  In front of the fridge.  While I was making dinner.  Michael always chooses the best places to build.

 Did I mention she loves this dog?

 Way back to Andrew's birthday outing.  Here they are waiting to get into the show.

 Posing on the throne.

 Sword fighting.  Of course they are.

 In our seats, waiting for the show to start.

Phew.  There you go.  Our last month or so.  Now off to church I go to watch them sing!

Doing her part to deforest the earth

Lily is learning to write in kindergarten.  They do something called kid writing a few times a week, where the kids draw a picture and then write a sentence about it...to the best of their abilities.  After they are done writing the best that they can, a teacher or volunteer writes the correct spelling underneath.  The hope is that it encourages the children to not worry about being perfect but to just write...the rest will come gradually.

I'll be honest.  I was skeptical when Andrew started Kindergarten.  But it helped Mr. Perfectionist have fun writing.  He loved inventive spelling so much, that he started to do it for everything...even words he knew, like his name.  We had to nip that in the bud pretty quickly, but mostly it was all positive.

Lily has taken to it whole-heartedly.  She used to write a little, but she was constantly asking me to spell things.  I don't know if it is the freedom to not worry about spelling correctly, or the fact that she is reading so well now she just happens to know a lot of words....but MAN.  This girl is writing.

On everything.

Like tables. (okay that was once, and she hasn't done it again since I made her scrub the table clean)

But mostly paper.

Post-it notes.

Lined paper.

White paper.

Scrap paper.

Hundreds of little notes taped on every square inch of the house.  Or stuck on people.  She is constantly running up and sticking notes on us...or often Shadow.

Right now, from the computer, I can see 7 notes.

One is taped to Shadow's cage...it says, "Shadow.  Oooooooooooooo."  (that would be a dog howling, of course.)

One is taped to the side of the counter.  It is a picture of me and says, "MY MOMMY SAD."

One is taped to the dishwasher.  No picture, it just says, "I wat a Big Sissr" (I want a big sister ?!?)

One is taped next to the fridge.  There's a picture of 2 people.  It says, "Lily Loves You.  How Many is taer" (how many is there)

One is a picture of a girl with music notes coming out of her mouth.  It says, "Mom Michael (arrow to picture) Lily S!

Two are taped to the basement door.

One says, "this is my family  mommy and Daddy Andrew Lily Michael and Shadow"

The other has a picture of a unicorn and says, "Andrew Lily Michael  Danbay tiar was a pony beach berry is a viry nays pony" (??? there was a pony.  Beach berry is a very nice pony)

And these are just the ones in the kitchen.  I cannot stress to you how these things are multiplying.  I found one one my pillow last night, for crying out loud.

Of course, it said, "I love you Mommy.  Love your Lily."

Kind of hard to get annoyed by that, right?  Although since Shadow can't read, the dozens of notes taped to her back that read, "I love Shadow.  She is my dog." , are kind of lost on her.  She's just freaked out by the crinkle of paper on her back.

On second thought...conferences updates (read: boring)

Well, the product that Jeff was going to run in France isn't working out so great in the test runs in the lab.  So his trip has been postponed until next Sunday (16th) at least and if they can't get the tests to come out right next week, it will be cancelled all together.  So!  All that fretting about nothing.  As usual.

I had a conference with Michael's teacher yesterday.  So ended the season of conferences.  I had one for Lily and Andrew the week of Thanksgiving and one with Andrew's Humanities teacher (gifted program) last Tuesday.  I am so fortunate that conferences are a very very pleasant experience.  It turns out that all 3 kids are people-pleasing school lovers.  Kind of like their parents.  In a nutshell:

Andrew's teacher loves him.  Of course.  She nodded sympathetically when I complained...again...that math is not challenging him at all.  Then she smiled and nodded as I whipped out the Common Core Standards and pointed out that he has mastered all of the 3rd grade objectives.  And we came up with some lame-ass plan to give him math challenges.  Basically I was told to wait until 4th grade, when there were opportunities in the school for math enrichment.  -sigh-  It's really hard to get more when your kid is just so darn contented in school.  Andrew happily completes all the easy-peasy assignments and absolutely ADORES helping his fellow students.  I am torn between keeping him happy with school and pushing him ahead.  He really should just be in 4th grade math (and reading, and everything else...perhaps a sign we should have staying in California, where he would have made the cutoff date for the higher grade?).  But I will content myself with the fact that he WILL be challenged, we DO challenge him at home, and he is really really a happy gifted kid...which is a blessing.  And I will try and hold back my mother-in-law and husband who pressure me a lot to push for more, but don't actually go to the school conferences.  I am non-confrontational and not the best for this job.

Lily's teacher loves her.  Of course.  She did a conference with the kids first, and Lily said she was best at being a good listener.  Which her teacher whole-heartedly agreed with.  Lily follows directions, is pleasant and cooperative, works well with her peers, and is basically just a great little student.  Her teacher has noticed that she is reading well, and so meets with her separately to work on reading while other students are working on the letter sounds, etc.  The teacher laughed at me when I worried about Lily not being able to add and subtract well.  Turns out that is not a skill kindergartners are expected to know.  It's going to tough following Andrew through school.  My expectations are all skewed.

Andrew's Humanities teacher loves him.  Of course.  She said he is always eager and excited to take on new challenges and works really well with his peers.  She pulled out a math challenge packets and said, "I realize that many of my students aren't being challenged in their regular classes, so I am introducing these packets.  I've got 5 more to keep them busy through the rest of the year."  Fantastic school...it's like she read my mind.  They are doing such cool things in this class, I really wish I could be a part of it.  They are in the geography section right now, and they are playing Geography Survivor.  They have been broken into tribes, and at the start of each class they have tribal council.  Each tribe is given a different challenge to work on (the first day they were given coordinates, and they had to figure out where their tribe was going to be stranded by working out the latitude and longitude.  Since they hadn't exactly studied that yet, it was quite a challenge!)  Really fun stuff.

Michael's teacher loves him.  Of course.  She said he is agreeable and will do whatever she asks...but she can tell when he doesn't like doing something.  Only because his enthusiasm is so great when he likes what he is doing, she can see there is no spark when he's not.  Not too bad.  He is pretty dependent socially on one boy in the class (someone we know outside of school).  This boy just left yesterday for a month in Australia visiting his grandparents.  So we are a bit concerned how he will do in school.  I think it will be good for him.  She mentioned that he is simply amazing with spacial concepts...like patterns, building, etc.  Which we know...but she said that she has literally stopped the class from free play to come and see something that Michael has built.  Cool.  He needs to work on his shapes (?)...I've missed that somehow at home.  He hates cutting and singing...but will do it when asked.  Basically he's right on track and a joyful and cooperative student.


So...thanks once again to my children for making me look good.  I've simply been blessed with good-natured people pleasers.  Which may be my doing, since I gave it to them genetically and managed not to ruin it in the last few years.  Other than that, the credit goes to them.  They are simply really really great kids.

Bah-humbug...or just boring?

So it comes around every year.  I love Christmas.  LOVE.  But each December I worry that I am not doing Christmas well.  We don't have lots of cute Christmas traditions, I don't like to bake or decorate or do crafts (all pre-requisites for good Christmas traditions), life doesn't seem more magical or special than usual.  I refuse to do the damn Elf on a Shelf nonsense, I don't scare the kids into being good with threats of the big man up North, we don't dress up in 1800s garb and serenade the neighbors with Christmas carols.  We kind of suck, big time, when it comes to Christmas.

If I truly felt bad about it, I'd do something different next year, right?  Obviously I don't care that much.

Somehow, despite being non-crafty and non-decoratey...we manage to have a great Christmas every year anyway.  We have our own lame-o traditions...like making a big fuss decorating the tree and listening to our favorite Christmas albums and reading huge stacks of Christmas books.  I don't know.  Whatever.  My favorite part of Christmas was always the family time...sitting around and just enjoying each other's company and watching people open gifts that you picked out just for them.  We still do that.



I am not planning on sending out Christmas cards this year.  I feel like there is no reason to.  Most people on my Christmas card list are on Facebook, and for everyone else?  Well...the kids look pretty much the same, our lives are pretty much the same.  I contemplated writing a Christmas letter that said:

S------ CHRISTMAS LETTER 2012.

Please reference last year's letter and add a year to each person's age.  

Have a great 2013!

          But I decided that would be a waste of stamps.  So I think I'll just skip it this year and then send out one next year.  Unless nothing has changed.  Well, at least the kids will look 2 years older :)  

This is just another sign that we have entered the blissfully uneventful, unexciting time of life.  It's really not too bad!  When you are first married and then first have a child, you are like a first-born...everything you do is new and exciting and people are all paying attention and sitting on the edge of their seats to hear what is happening in your life.  Then, when you have been married 13 years, and your children are just normal knobby-kneed kids, you are kind of like the middle child.  People love you and will listen to what is happening if forced...but generally you just kind of blend into the background and are uninteresting...everyone has been there, done that.  Being a middle child myself, I find this stage very comfortable.  I LIKE being boring.  Bring it on, BORING.  That means we haven't moved, divorced, had another baby, lost our jobs...exciting is terrifying.  Boring is good.  

However, boring makes for a really dull Christmas card.  So no go this year.

Jeff's work is planning on sending him on a trip just before Christmas.  He is either leaving Sunday (9th), next Wednesday (12th), or the following Sunday (16th).  He will be in France until the 21st or 22nd.  Which is...sigh...fine I guess.  I mean, he'll be back in time for Christmas.  But...sigh.  This does not help with my favorite part of Christmas...the being together part.  And it means I'll be missing some Christmas-y parties with my girlfriends...a cookie exchange with people I haven't seen in 9 months and book club.  Bummer.  Last year I missed the cookie exchange because of head lice.  So I guess this is better than that?  Also, I will be baking alone with the kids and going to the Christmas-y light outings alone with them and shopping alone. I mean, if I had my shit together, we could technically go and do this on Saturday together.  But 2 of our 3 toilets aren't working, so Jeff has got a big Saturday planned fixing toilets.  Yippee!  Home ownership is fun!

Oh, dear.  That was very bah-humbugy.  We knew that this job would involve travel.  So that's fine.  He'll probably be in Asia for a few weeks in the spring.  So that is yucky.  And he thinks I'll be going back to work full time someday!  HA HA!  Who exactly would watch the children while he is traveling?  HA HA HA!

Oh, dear.  This is becoming a venting post about Jeff traveling.  Must not.  He has a wonderfully stable, good-paying job that allows me to stay at home and NOT bake or decorate.  I am thankful.  Truly.  

Okay, enough of that.  I'm off to plan what cookies we are baking this year.  Yes, I do several varieties despite my dislike of baking.  Christmas...it's all about making other people happy.  And cookies make my people happy :)