This and That

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Created on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 19:20

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I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog, but it makes me feel better to update it at least every few months. And it's January, so I can still feel like I'm off to a good start in 2011. Actually, I have been very productive this month. For some reason I woke up on New Year's Day with an itch to clean and organize the house. I packed up the Christmas decorations, cleaned the living room from top to bottom, and moved all the furniture around. This drives my family crazy, but after I make the change everyone starts talking about how they prefer the new arrangement and how much more room there is, etc. I've just learned to live with the initial criticism. haha I then tackled the bedroom, hall bathroom and kitchen cabinets and have spent a few days here and there cleaning up the backyard and the odd drawer or cabinet. I'm not usually this busy around the house during the winter months, but I guess I've gotten a head-start on my spring cleaning. I've also started back at the gym after having neglected it over the holidays, and I'm feeling really good this week.

I don't know how I've managed it but I've found the time to read 13 books so far since January 1st. I think this is due to spending much less time online. Just goes to show how much time you can waste if you're not careful! Considering I've watched way too many episodes of Big Bang Theory since Christmas, the amount of time I've found for other pursuits is really quite remarkable. I'm just shy of the halfway point reading through Newsweek's Top 100 Books list. It's slow going, but I suppose I could have worked my way through the list faster if I only stuck with reading material from the list. I also joined the Aussie Author's Challenge to read 12 books by Australian authors this year, which should be fun. I recently received a tweet about a new fantasy book coming out, the second in a trilogy, and went to look at the reviews for the first book. It had a huge number of 5 star reviews on both Amazon.com and goodreads. I ended up buying the Kindle version of the book out of curiosity and then couldn't put it down! I'm not normally into fantasy books, but I would definitely recommend reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I can hardly wait for the next book in the series. The author will be starting his tour in my neck of the woods the week the book comes out, so I will have to try and make it to that.

Eric is 17 now and celebrated his birthday with family and friends at Johnny Reb's. It was do-over night, meaning we received the same meal that we had enjoyed (I use that word loosely in this particular instance, but that's another story) a month earlier, only this time it was free. Johnny Reb's really knows how to embarass the birthday boy, but Eric was up for it, dancing and kissing pig behinds to everyone's delight. Eva turned 19 and requested her birthday dinner at P.F. Chang's after spending the day at Disneyland with her friends. She has been on a cupcaking making spree since her birthday. Eva just started back to school yesterday and Eric is taking his semester finals this week. Disneyland has been keeping Eva busy since last semester and she even cleaned her room last week. I could still see the carpet in there this morning! She has even been ice skating the past couple of weekends. Eric also cleaned his room and voluntarily helped me in the yard last weekend and even requested Driver's Training classes, so I think this being productive thing is working its way through the family. I hope it lasts! Eric has also stopped playing WoW, and has moved on to DC Universe online. It doesn't take up as much of his time, so we've actually seen a lot more of him this month.

The list of Oscar nominees came out today. I've seen most everything that's been nominated for the big awards, but I've still got to see Rabbit Hole and The Kids are Alright. I may just skip 'Kids' as the trailer didn't interest me at all. Oh, and Animal Kingdom is on it's way from Netflix as I type. Abe wants to see The King's Speech, which Eva and I went to on Christmas. I'm not sure if I want to go with him and see the movie again. It was really good, but I may find it difficult to sit through Colin stuttering for another two hours. Eva and I went to see American Graffiti on the big screen a couple of weeks ago. I had only ever seen bits and pieces of it on TV. It was fun watching all the now-famous actors in their youth. This week they're playing Sound of Music. I'm not sure if we will make it to that one or not, but I know Eva would like to go. I really want to see Gone With the Wind again in April and The Godfather in October.

I actually have a few more items that I could write about, but I think I will hold off and maybe use them to update this blog again before April. In fact, maybe I should challenge myself to write a little something every month. See you in February!