Twelfth Night...

And Christmas is officially over. Time to take down the tree and the other decorations. Time to return the sunroom to its usual state as a place to sit and relax. And to work out on the Nordic Track. Sigh... it always makes me a bit blue, taking down the tree. It's so pretty. But it's also really depressing to keep the tree up too long after Christmas is over, so take it down we must and turn our attention to the new year.

So, Happy New Year!



This is what greeted us on New Year's morning, so my first official act of 2008 was shoveling snow. It wasn't all THAT deep or heavy, though, so I can't complain too much. It sure was pretty!

So, what has been occupying me this first week of the year? Writing, some. I have (as far as I can tell) four chapters left to write on the novel. I'm going to try to finish it in a week/week and a half. Then I'm going to read back through it and tweak. I'm reasonably sure I can get it to Jeff for his feedback as promised.

I've also been busy repopulating my iTunes library and iPod playlist (one only--so I can shuffle it to work out to). I finally figured out (with Jeff's help) why my iPod was full to the brim with less than 200 songs, when it is supposed to be able to hold at least three times that number. I had been uploading songs as huge files! Duh! So I got rid of those huge files, and I'm now uploading what I had again and more. It's exciting to know I'll have so many songs to work out to, but it's taking a while to replace and add.

I also bought us our own copy of Veganomicon. I bought Rachel a copy for Christmas and before I sent it to her, I browsed through it a bit. The recipes look fairly easy and they seem as if they would be tasty, but it was the breezy, engaging writing that made me want a copy for myself. We're going to try to make one of the recipes each week. Neither one of us can commit to veganism, or even to a constant vegetarian diet (go without bacon? I do not THINK so!), but we both think we could do with healthier dietary options.

So... that's about it for now. Although I have to recommend that if you have NOT seen Ratatouille yet, do yourself a favor and do. It is one of the best films I've seen in a long, long time.