Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth. I needed a break. There's been some stuff going on in my life that I can't blog about--but I haven't really wanted to blog about anything but that. Thus, nothing. I do have a sort of exciting new something to unveil, though. Witness my new book review blog. It's still very much in the fledgling stages, but I'm pretty excited about it. And I know the fonts and links and all that are still a bit rough, but it'll get there. So, go. Read. Comment.

As probably everyone around the nation knows, we've had some winter weather here. I had two out of five days this week actually in school. The other three involved me sleeping until 9, watching Pride and Prejudice (the long version. oh, yes, the long version.), reading a couple of books cover to cover, cooking lots of comfort food, and playing Word Challenge on Facebook at all hours (and, by the way, I just want to point out that I did beat my cousin Katie at that game--even if I was only the victor for a few hours, I want posterity to know that it happened). The snow by me was pretty negligible. (My sister's Iowa boyfriend reportedly laughed aloud at our school cancelations, but then again, there are no hills in Iowa). Other people in the surrounding foothills had it worse, I guess. It was definitely nothing like last year's storm. Still, no school is no school.

I'm taking the opportunity over Christmas break to paint my bedroom. I have it all planned out, but it's kind of too complicated to explain, so I'm going to wait and let my pictures tell all (unless it turns out bad, in which case you'll just have to live with your suspense). I spent about an hour at the paint counter at Walmart today, watching the guy mix paints. A very self-important and blustery supervisor came by and gave him a string of instructions about his tasks for the next shift. "Keep working, I'll talk," she said as she began, and I wanted to jump in and say, "Uh, actually, since that's my paint he's mixing there, could he just stop and listen to you, and then give it his full attention when you're done? Guys aren't that great at multi-tasking, so I've heard." But I didn't say anything. I just grinned conspiratorily at another shopper who was nearby and also hearing the whole exchange. It would have been a perfect moment for a wink, but I'm not very good at winking. I can do it fine when I'm alone, but in the context of real-time interaction with other people, I can't seem to manage it. I end up blinking or squinting or something weird. Hmm, maybe I should take some lessons from an expert.

Anyway, so I'm going to paint this week and then right after Christmas, our family is going to Mexico. I haven't really been involved with planning this big vacation, but I guess we're staying at a little place in Baja that's run by a guy who used to have a Bed and Breakfast in Oregon. It's hard to believe I'll be going straight from Oregon snow to Mexico sun, but it should be fun. I've never really been able to go swimming in the ocean before, so I'm looking forward to that especially. And I need to find some good small paperbacks to maximize my suitcase space. If only I liked James Patterson or Danielle Steel.

Labels: books, Christmas, travel

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