My Christmas Surprises

My Christmas gifts from BJ:

A mug with a picture of a TARDIS on it that disappears when it is filled with coffee and a Kindle Fire.

I'm afraid that I expressed more visible excitement for the mug than the Kindle.

Nerdy, I know, but both are completely enjoyable. And I was basically shocked into silence upon opening the Kindle to really know what to do.

But I'm learning how to use it. And did you know that you can "check out" library books for an e-reader? I plan on trying to check one out today. (I think a little Steinbeck is in order...) I'm not completely converted yet, but if I had had an e-reader before Christmas I would have brought along the 750 page book that I'm finishing up this week. Instead I left that one at home.

:o)

My Happy Kids

Going through some pictures on my computer and camera made me realize how long it's been since I updated the photo slideshow across the top of my blog. Now the slideshow includes the last 3 months of pictures. Click on any picture and you'll be magically transported to the album on the web where you can download any picture for yourself. Because I just know you want that picture of Toby and BJ at the Renaissance Festival as the barman and beer maid. :o)

My Thoughts Exactly

I got a kick out of this question at the end of a blog post that I read today. I thought I'd share it with you, simply because I think it's fun to keep a spark of imagination alive in the day-to-day mundane things like cleaning out a closet.

Relatedly, what does it mean if you finally set about to clean a closet no one's cleaned in years, then find it to be spotless? Not a cobweb, not a dust bunny, not a single carpet beetle carcass, not a speck of lint, not even in the deepest darkest corners? Would you start pushing things aside looking for a looking glass, wardrobe, police box, or the door to Howl's moving castle? Or am I the only one who, finding something clean in my house, assumes that I've stumbled upon a portal to an alternate dimension?
* The post comes from the blog "This is my Secret" by author Kristin Cashore.


I've been meaning to write about blog posts that I enjoy following, and I can't remember if I have already. So I'll just put the plug in here. I love reading Cashore's blog, in which she writes about how she writes, places she's traveled to, her affinity for Bollywood actors and the show So You Think You Can Dance, or her closet in her apartment in Boston. 
I also really love Sharon Creech's blog ("Words We Say"). This one, again, covers a lot more than writing. Check this post out about being trapped by kittens. And she sometimes posts about squirrels, as I have been known to do!