We spent last night (as we have the past +/- five years) with our neighbors. We house hop year after year, all bringing food, drinks and the ever so popluar Catch Phrase. And this year was the first year that everyone didn't run out at 12:05. We waited until at least 12:15. So proud.
Today is a day of rest and relaxation. I'm not even putting pressure on myself to take down the tree, a task I'm waiting until Saturday to do. But, the task of removing and storing my decorations has gotten easier thanks to this little beauty:
Santa had brought the boys one each last year and I was able to grab another one this year so I can store each of the boys ornaments in their own box and the remaining (mom and dad) ornaments in ours. This way, many, many years from now when the boys decide they must move onto their own place and start their own traditions, I will be able to hand them their own nicely stored boxed of ornaments. I can only hope they continue with the hodge-podged ornament trees instead of the theme related trees so many do these days but it will be their decision at that point. Let's change the subject shall we...
It's been a long time since I've read a book. I believe the last book I read was Harry Potter - how many years has that been? I decided our time in Florida was a good opportunity to read again so I picked up Nicholas Sparks: The Choice. You just can't go wrong with Nicholas Sparks, seriously. It was very good and satisfying. I was able to finish it during the week, a proud accomplishment for me. :-) I wasn't ready to read anymore until we got in the car to head back home, an 18 hour drive. While at the store I ended up picking up a second book in case I needed an alternate selection. I surprised myself when I chose Stephenie Meyers: Twilight. I sucummed to the buzz about the book I'll admit it. I knew the movie was out. Although I am not into vampires, would have never dreamed of ever reading a book about them, I decided to commit and give it a try. Know what? It was really good - the buzz was correct! I read for about 14 hours straight, not even getting car sick, and I finished the entire book before we got home. I'm now ready to go out and see the movie and I'm already on chapter 3 of the second book in the series: New Moon. What's so exciting for me about this series is it's already out there, and in paperback too! With Harry Potter, I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching them evolve book after book, but I hated waiting for each book to come out and when it did being forced to buy the hardback copy which is more expensive and hard to hold (can't snuggle up with a hard back booked as easy!). The benefit to me for the Twilight series is I'm way behind the curve. There's something to be said for not being in the know.
One of the Christmas Gifts I had asked for this year was the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet. Thanks Dad & Ione for getting it for me! I wanted it to help with photo manipulations but turns out there is so much more you can do. Here's one of Chad's masterpieces:
Not too shabby is it?! I can't wait to take the time to really sit down and get a better understand of everything this little beauty can do. Going to be a lot of fun! Another gift I got was one of these cuties:
Boring right?! No, it really isn't! I was using it a little bit this morning and it was great! I enter a ton of numbers into my laptop and I really missed not having a 10-key pad. I just hate those numbers at the top of the keyboard, they are so unnatural for me. This little baby connects to my laptop via USB. I know will be a life saver. Thanks boys and JB!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years Eve. I expect nothing but the best for everyone this year. I have a feeling it's going to be a great one!
