What? No!!!!!

It snowed last night.

Seriously.

I remember reading in bed and then falling asleep to the amazing sound of pounding rain. I love it when rain fully commits to raining and just goes for it.

This is what happened all day yesterday. I could hear it coming down on the roof, the windows and even the street. It was that loud. Wonderful.

I remember waking up sometime during the night and realizing the rain had stopped and feeling a bit sad. Of course the reason I couldn't hear rain anymore was because it was snowing. Ugh.

If snow keeps these kids from going back to school on Monday I will buy a snow plow* and personally plow every street on the bus route myself.

Now, for a bit of book news.

The Cybils are awards given by children's and young adult literary bloggers each year. The finalists for 2008 have just been announced which is good news for you.

Why?

Because, if you enjoy reading kid lit, or know a kid who needs a few good book recommendations, then the Cybils list of finalists is a dragon's hoard of good book suggestions.

Categories include:

Easy Readers
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Fiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade Fiction
Non-Fiction MG and YA
Non-Fiction Picture Books
Poetry
Young Adult Fiction

I found a few books to add to my library request list. I'll have to wait a few weeks to make the requests until I work through the tall pile I have on my nightstand.

*Yes, I realize this would totally blow my New Year's goal to save money.

Good Morning 2009!

I love New Year! It's like I'm looking at this fresh start, full of potential spread out in front of me. Fabulous!

This year I want to be more healthy.

This year I want to increase my spirituality.

This year I want to save money.

This year I want to take the next step on my path to becoming a professional writer.

Those are my goals, out in the open, for all to see. That makes me a bit nervous. Now you will all know if I fail. But you will also know if I succeed. The pressure!

Health - With the abundance of super yummy food during the holiday season and in the candy aisle at Walgreens combined with the irritating reality that my dryer is certainly shrinking my jeans a little more each week, I've decided to spend 2 weeks on South Beach's phase one diet.

I've completed South Beach phase one before with great success. First, my cravings for sweet snacks dramatically reduced. Second, I lost weight. That gave me the motivation to keep going and continue making healthy eating choices.

In addition to my food make-over, I'm going to start walking at an indoor track 3 times a week.

Spirituality - I love any chance to multi-task so during my indoor track walks, I'll be listening to a downloaded General Conference talk, or some other kind of spiritually uplifting fare on my iPod.

Money - Warning: Our crazy strategies for saving money might shock you, so read on with caution. We. Are. Getting. Rid. Of. TV. Ahhhh!

OK, we are keeping the television set. How else would we play our new Wii? We are canceling our Dish service and will not have cable or anything. We will get "free" TV via the good old fashioned rabbit ears until February. Then we will get one of those new-fangled converter boxes.

Another money saving strategy: No eating out. This includes happy meals (yes, we've told the kids) and burrito supremes as well as sit down, order-from-a-menu joints. The good news is this will probably help with my "health" goal a little bit.

Writing - I haven't really come up with a concrete way I'm going to take my writing to the next level in 2009. I'd certainly like to get published in Vancouver Family Magazine on a regular basis, and possibly another magazine with maybe a bigger readership. I've always wanted to get published in "The Friend." I'll figure something out and let you know...or not.

Happy 2009 everyone!

Read Like the Wind!

Evidently, being stuck in the house for days on end while the snow piled up left me with a little free time. Free time in which I searched book blogs and writer blogs and even Amazon for books to add to my library waiting list.

Fortunately or unfortunately, almost all the books I put on hold were available right away.

And now I have 12 books waiting for me at the library. I still have 3 library books to be read, but I might return a few of those and check them out another time.

I'll have to let you know how the reading goes.

Don't Hate Me But...

I'm ready to take down the tree.

Sorry to be blunt, but I felt it was best to just be out with it. I want to remove all the ornaments, pack them up in our storage bin, unplug the tree and break it down into its three separate parts, put it in its box and stow everything away in the garage.

I floated this idea on my Facebook page and instantly got three messages telling me I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Is it so bad that I'm tired of Christmas? Seems like it's been everywhere for about 2 months now. No other holiday or activity (except baseball season and elections) lasts this long. The music, the decorations, the advertisements the snacks: Enough already.

If that makes me a Scrooge, then turn the heat down and slash the kid's allowances...I'm Scrooge.

I'm ready for something new. Something fresh and original. Something that ends in '9.'

I'm also ready for the kids to go back to school (that, too, has lasted long enough) and I'm ready to get started on some exciting new goals.

I just feel like making a clean sweep and starting fresh.

Doesn't that sound nice to anyone else?

Funny Christmas

Since most of you are probably enjoying time with your family and not checking blogs, I thought I'd post this silly little thing. I found it at Bookshelves of Doom.

Wii had a very merry Christmas. I hope you did too.

Merry PJ's

Here are the boys in their Christmas PJ's that I made last night while Robert and Ethan were at the Blazer game.

Between my ineptitude with my new camera and the boys inability to cooperate, I had to take about 30 pictures to get this one good one. And yes, the was the only one that turned out.

("Please, all mommy wants for Christmas is for you boys to all look nice in a picture.")

Merry Christmas everyone!

These Boots

I love these boots. I bought them my first day as a missionary in Anchorage, Alaska.

I don't remember what prompted me to buy these particular boots. I remember thinking while I was at the MTC in Provo that when the time came I'd buy footwear that was a little more feminine. But when it came right down to it, I went with the Sorel Snowcat in white.

The drawstrings at the top of the boots are useful when walking in deep snow. I appreciated that feature several times on my mission, but mostly left them untied.

Usually I get these boots out of storage once a year for a day or two. This year the boots have been a familiar fixture by my front door for 2 weeks and counting. I am not exaggerating when I say that my feet are always toasty warm when I wear my Snowcats.

If I look goofy walking through the mall in my giant white boots, I really don't care. I love my boots and hope to still be wearing them in another 20 years.

(That's right...I was a missionary 20 years ago. Please. Don't do the math.)