2011: What is left of it

I have about seven hours to play catch up.

Books. Advent Events. An anniversary. Christmas. My husband's birthday. Waiting for word on where we'll be going in April.

The end of the year has been a jumble of gatherings, travel, and sleepless nights.

But here it goes: my attempt to be semi-coherent.

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Back in January of 2010, I started a monthly post wherein I listed and reviewed in miniature the books I read. Well, life in the last quarter of 2011 has been so busy that I haven't updated my reading list since August.

I'm just going to skip the reviews and go for the list of what I remember reading in the past four months.

Just Kids by Patti Smith
The $64 Tomato by William Alexander
Doc by Mary Doria Russell
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Korea... with Children! by Arleta Wohlrab
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
The Complete Poems and Collected Letters of Adelaide Crapsey
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
The Getaway Car by Ann Patchett
I Am Half Sick of Shadows: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley
I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-up Comedy's Golden Era by William Knoedelseder

Grand Total of Reads in 2011: 39, or 13 short of my goal
(2010 Total: 42.5)

I will reach one book a week, but something tells me that 2012 is going to be a busy one.

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Advent Events

Ornaments

Making cookies

Rolling out the dough for hand ornaments

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My husband and I celebrated another anniversary driving to Texas. Actually, it was the best Anniversary #1 on record. We were not sick. The Pilot was not deployed.

(Anniversary #1: Making it legal anniversary as opposed to Anniversary #2, or Church wedding, on April Fool's Day. We count it as our spare in case the Pilot is deployed or TDY.)

Now it is New Year's Eve, and for the first time, neither one of us is sick and the Pilot is not deployed. I have champagne chilling in the fridge and formula to give Miss Cora in case I get tipsy and cannot feed her. I think I've earned it!

Earlier in the post, I left a little hint of where our family could be heading pending a medical clearance.  I spent most of the past week jumping out of my skin every time the phone rang. No news. It looks like we'll find out next week whether we will be going with the Pilot oversees for two years or if he will be going without us for a year.

In any case, I keep this song in my head:



A very happy new year to everyone no matter where you may be spending it.

And I send best wishes and thoughts of hope and peace to those of you separated from your nearest and dearest.  May your loved ones return home safe and soon.