Merrying the Christmas

Tracy and I had a great time in Boise with our families.  It's hard to make such quick visits, because we love hanging out there, and we have so many people there that we love and enjoy spending time with.   I'm especially a sucker for the nieces and nephews. (Which include the fabulous Becca and the amazing Hunter, who are apparently dedicated readers of my blog, with a little help from their parents :-)  We missed a few of the kids this time, and that was tough, but we did leave gifts so hopefully that will earn us some uncle and aunt brownie points.

I'm always amazed at how much work my Mom and Mom-in-law put into making Christmas a terrific time for the kids and grand kids.  I know it's a labor of love, but it's still very impressive. 

Anyway, I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!

Christmas Lights

I may not be the world's biggest fan of snow and ice, but they do make the Christmas lights look good.

Four Books in Five Days

I'm feeling back in my reading groove.  Since my last post I've finished/read:

-SDS by Kirkpatrick Sale.  This book was for my dissertation and was a bit of a monster.
-Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart.  In the Young Adult section, but it felt more like adult literary fiction in all the best and worst ways.
-The Forbidden Sea by Sheila Neilson.  Plucky heroines and mermaids abound, a nice adventure story.
-Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine.  Billed as a kids book, but is a serious heart breaker.

I also checked out four books I'm excited to read from the public library.  I think without fiction in my life, I'd go a little nuts.  Or should I say, a little more nuts.

Feast and Famine

When it comes to reading,  I find myself going through weird phases. Over the last month I've found myself in a traffic jam of fiction, feeling like I have more books to read than I have time for. I think this is largely due to two causes -

First, a struggle to finish Gerald Lund's The Undaunted, which was worth reading but difficult.  There's only so many plucky historical figures and covered wagons I can take at one time apparently.

Second, to the fact that I'm slogging through a lot of particularly thorny stuff for both the American West Center (which also features plucky historical figures and covered wagons) and for my dissertation.  After a day of sitting and reading for work and school, I tend to gravitate toward other hobbies. 

Now, normally, I check out 5 or 6 books and have them read well before I need to turn them in.  Right now I'm sitting on at least four books that are going to be coming due any minute, all of which I really want to read.  Also, three of my favorite authors (I think of them as the "M" trio -  McKinley, Marillier, and McKillip) are coming out with books which I have wisely put on my various Christmas lists.  These aren't just any books, but the kind that suck me in so fast I don't want to eat, sleep or breathe until they are finished.
In addition, my fiction "To Read" list has grown to over 30 titles.  

When I'm in the midst of this bounty of books, I find it baffling that there is ever a moment in my life when I feel like there is nothing decent to read.  Bizarre yes, but it happens all the time.  In fact just a few months ago, wandering wistfully and aimlessly through Barnes and Noble I had that very thought, which is why I started my "To Read" list in the first place.

However, I think I'm about to be back on my usual book gobbling track.  The book I'm currently reading, Dangerous Neighbors, is 170 pages and there isn't a covered wagon in sight :-)

Idaho

According to Leonard J. Arrington's History of Idaho, Idaho was the last of (what are now) the 50 U.S. States to be visited by European-Americans.   How did an Idaho girl like me make it to graduate school before learning such a cool factoid?

Speaking of Idaho, Tracy and I had an adventure trying to get home this last weekend.   The usual route we take was closed due to weather so we took the route that goes through Pocatello.  Things were going pretty well until the last hour and half when a storm set in and reduced us to driving 25 miles an hour in very limited visibility.  So we stayed overnight in Pocatello on Sunday night and finished our trip home on Monday.   It was a great weekend though, we had lots of fun with our families!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I was thinking this morning about things that I am thankful for.  The big, important things never change.  I'm thankful for my husband, my family, my friends, the basic necessities of life (especially a warm cozy house) and for the knowledge that I am my Heavenly Father's daughter and He loves me.

This morning, however, I tried to think about other blessings I needed to count - and became really thankful for books and for reading.  This will come as no surprise to anyone.  However, I realized that 90% of my life is tied up in my love of reading and writing.  

- My job pays me to read.  This week I was reading about Chief Pocatello, strangely enough. 

- My schoolwork is almost entirely reading and writing (especially now that I'm at the dissertation stage).  

- For fun I read novels, write novels, and journal in scrapbooks.  

- My communication with family and friends, thanks to e-mail and blogs, involves a great deal of reading and writing.

- To feed my spiritual needs I read the scriptures every day. 

In fact I can't think of a part of my life that isn't profoundly impacted by the ability to read and write.  Today I stopped to realize that I am very blessed to live in this day and age.  For most of the history of the world, ordinary people, especially women, didn't have the resources they needed to learn how to read and write even at a basic level. Not only that but, thanks to the miracle of libraries, I can read books for free.  (Well, for $4.50 in library fines :)  I can't imagine a world without words.   So my special bit of gratitude for today is to be thankful for books and the fact that I can read them.

My Favorite Time Sucking Websites

First, let me define "time sucking."  These are not the sites, like CNN, or the Internet Movie Database, that I duck into for a quick fix and can get back out in reasonable time.  Oh no, these are the ones that suck me in and an hour later I'm still browsing or whatever.   The problem is I wait until I actually have a little time to do it.  Unfortunately that's time I could spend writing, cleaning the house, or trying to actually finish The Undaunted.  Oh well.

Goodreads - There's a reason I've only logged in a few times in the last couple of months.  I could spend hours on that site, looking at books and quotes etc.  I just spent an hour there, which inspired this blog topic.

Amazon.com - If I'm actually shopping this isn't a problem, but if I'm just browsing, or looking at recommendations, that's when I need a timer

Real Estate Websites - It's like my own little fantasy version of House Hunters.  I have my favorites.  The ones who let you be specific on your search criteria without asking for your name, address and social security number :-)  The current favorite location - Orcas Island. The classic version - the Washington D.C. metro area. Occasional guest appearances - Boise, Portland and Seattle.